Heavy snow to hit southern Alberta Saturday morning

If the weather forecast was a Christmas song, it would be Let It Snow for southern Alberta.

The south half of the province is precariously positioned at the junction of two air masses: a warm and moist mass coming in from the southwest United States and a cold and dry mass coming in from northeast Canada.

When these masses converge, they are producing a lot of snow, the heaviest of which is anticipated Saturday morning, with southeast Alberta to experience the highest accumulations.

Because of this setup, much of central and southern Alberta was put under a snowfall warning for Friday, and that warning will likely remain in many regions until late Saturday.

Calgary is expected to receive about five to 10 centimetres of snowfall from this event, with most of it falling in the morning hours, though some weather models suggest the city could see up to 15 centimetres.

Saturday's high will be a well-below-seasonal temperature of 11 C.

Once this system drifts into Saskatchewan, some sunshine will return to Calgary and surrounding areas on Sunday, but temperatures will remain in the minus teens until Tuesday, when a nice but brief warm-up will arrive.