CALGARY -- Today offers a combination of events for the Calgary area: this afternoon, a large surface low swings well to our north, with a warm frontal passage boosting us above normal.

We'll get a further leg up from westerly wind aloft setting up, opening us to a chinook arch. I've got our forecast set to 5 C as of this morning, as we'll languish in the negatives early, but that may end up being a conservative estimate.

Overnight, westerly wind will continue, and without cool air moving in, we get another boost heading through tomorrow, with Saturday, Sunday, and Monday all rolling in between the jet stream, producing conditions that largely reflect high-pressure weather.

As a weather aside, let's head to higher elevations and chat to the skiers and snowboarders and snowshoers and cross-country-goers and…yeah, the list is long enough.

Here's the charting for mountain forecasts from avalanche.ca:

avalanche, avalanche.ca, mountain forecast, Nov.26

Consistent trends along Alberta's mountain regions: considerable snowpack at the alpine level, moderate at the treeline, and low below the treeline.

Here's the map to do some digging for your trip ahead of the weekend.

Here's the five-day forecast:

Today:

  • Partly cloudy, chinook! (40-50 km/h gusts)
  • Daytime high: 5 C
  • Evening: clear, low 0 C

Friday:

  • Sunny
  • Daytime high: 7 C
  • Evening: clear, low 0 C

Saturday:

  • Sunny
  • Daytime high: 3 C
  • Evening: clear, low -5 C

Sunday:

  • Sunny
  • Daytime high: 5 C
  • Evening: clear, low -1 C

Monday:

  • Partly cloudy
  • Daytime high: 4 C
  • Evening: clear, low -3 C

If not for the earthquake on the worst possible day at the worst possible time, the entire scope of the planet would be different. In 1755, Portugal was the first global empire on earth, having mastered the ocean hundreds of years prior. Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, is November 1st; residents of Lisbon were at worship with candles lit to mark the day.

Then, the earthquake hit.

Historians believe it registered as a 9.2 on the Richter Scale, with the epicentre ~400 km off the coast of Portugal. The damage was tremendous. Thirty minutes later, the tsunami rushed in: buildings were crushed, and those trapped in the rubble were further trapped by rushing water. Then, the city caught fire from the All Saints' Day candles.

NOAA performed a tsunami forecast using their best measure of the earthquake, to establish the breadth of tidal waves that were created.

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The Portugese royal family was paralyzed, and Portugal's secretary of foreign affairs would step in and form a dictatorship for the next twenty years before being ousted. 75 per cent of the capital was destroyed, losing roughly 20 per cent of its 200,000 population (which, at the time, made Lisbon the fifth most populous city in Europe). Portugal's GDP is estimated to have fallen by between 32 and 48 per cent would never rise to their former glory.

What a beautiful sunset last night! Tab caught a great photo of it!

Calgary, sunset, Tab, Nov. 25

You can submit your weather photos here.