Warm, windy weekend ahead

Temperatures will pick up into this weekend It has been a cooler couple of days around these parts but we can expect a warm, windy weekend ahead of us.

A low-pressure trough lingered over southern Alberta on Thursday, ushering in cool northwesterly winds gusting up to 40 km/h and scattered showers.

Rainfall amounts will be trace around Calgary, while the more intense storm activity was in north-central and eastern Alberta along the Saskatchewan border.

This system did trigger a severe thunderstorm warning for the region of Winnifred just southwest of Medicine Hat as the storm cells built in intensity and posed the risk of producing strong winds and nickel-sized hail, but this fast-moving low did not stick around for very long.

A risk of thunderstorms continues over the province in the evening, but will die off overnight as the upper low tracks into the eastern Prairie provinces.

Looking ahead to the last day of May, we will start with some calm northwest winds around 15 km/h, but they will pick up in the afternoon from the same direction at 20-40 km/h.

That will keep temperatures on the cooler side of normal (high of 19 C) with a forecast high of 16 C on tap for Friday.

Models are showing a 30 per cent chance of scattered showers over the city in the early afternoon, with gradual clearing conditions heading into Saturday.

The warming trend picks up momentum on Saturday with a high of 19 C in store, then a chinook setup takes over on Sunday with a high of 20 C and sunshine with some gusty westerly winds.

While the strong winds could pose a risk for wildfires, conditions will still be great to get outside and enjoy the first weekend of June!