Jump start to Wednesday as warm air pushes morning temperatures 20 degrees above seasonal

It was an unusual start to the day Wednesday as temperatures at 6:20 a.m. in north Calgary, Airdrie and Cochrane were around 8 C warmer than south Calgary and Okotoks.

Things got even more strange minutes later when temperatures at the airport and downtown jumped up another 7 C.

By 6:30 a.m. warmer westerly winds rapidly elevated temperatures in the north to 9 C while south Calgary and Okotoks were at least 15 C cooler.

By 7 a.m. the temperature west of the city (in Banff) was 20 C colder than at YYC International, and Drumheller was 13 C colder, but the temperature gap was starting to close between north and south Calgary.

A wide and tall ridge of high pressure extending from California to the Northwest Territories will draw warmer air north Wednesday, boosting temperatures under that ridge. A baroclinic environment will result in windy conditions throughout the day in Alberta with peak gusts coming from the southwest at 40 to 60 kilometres per hour.

Precipitation will move across the west coast Wednesday before tracking east into southern Alberta early Thursday.

Calgary can expect some rain during the morning commute Thursday, which will transition into scattered, mixed precipitation and then snow.

There should be enough of a southerly influence to keep the bulk of that snow north and east of Calgary, with model agreement on at least one centimetre of accumulation in Calgary.

Sunshine will return for the weekend with daytime highs between 3 to 6 C above seasonal and lows between 8 to 10 C above average.