Colder weather around the corner for Calgary after a warm Thursday

Okay. I am convinced.

Let's talk about what this polar vortex is, and what it isn’'.

Here's what it is: a colossal region of low pressure and frigid air that dips in occasionally.

And what it isn't: a prolonged cold snap.

I bring this up because our five-day forecast is now really, really looped in on dropping off hard this weekend, then softening next week.

Today, we’re already seeing gusts in the mid-50s. we may peak into the 60s, but my call of 8 C from yesterday is already off; in the six o’clock hour, we hit 9 C. Que sera! (The sun isn't up so it’s not a daytime high. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). Our record high was set in 1986 at 13.7 C. Not super likely to pop that bubble.

Late tonight, around midnight, the party starts. We could end up with a brief freezing rain warning over our city (or a freezing drizzle advisory – equally possible). The transition to snow likely doesn't generate a snowfall warning, unless Environment and Climate Change Canada sees an update that pushes our snowfall total above ten centimetres. We're going to wake up to a fresh layer of snow, and similar wind conditions, save the directional shift; they'll come from the north this time.

After that, we hit the weekend. That's the dropoff – a chance of flurries persists. By Monday, negative single-digit temps. Tolerable stuff.

YOUR FIVE-DAY CALGARY FORECAST

Thursday

• Evening: snow showers, chance of freezing rain, low 0 C

Friday

• Cloudy, am snow (6 to 8 cm), pm flurries, downtrending
• Daytime high: 0 C
• Evening: flurries, low -18 C

Saturday

• Partly cloudy, am snow showers
• Daytime high: -17 C
• Evening: some cloud, flurries, low -21 C

Sunday

• Mainly sunny
• Daytime high: -17 C
• Evening: mainly clear, low -21 C

Monday

• Partly cloudy
• Daytime high: -6 C
• Evening: some cloud, low -9 C

Tuesday

• Scattered snow showers
• Daytime high: -3 C
• Evening: flurries, low -7 C

Marni in Carburn Park with the pic of the day… because how can you not!?

Viewer Marni captured this shot of three deer in Carburn Park in southeast Calgary.

Submit your weather photos here to see them featured in our article, and perhaps even as the pic of the day during our News at Six! You can also share on Twitter, or to our Instagram at @CTVCalgaryWeather.