It'll be cold and snowy to close out the week, but a longer-term warm-up is on the way

Snow will fall and so will the temperatures as we head through Thursday and the beginning of the long weekend (Good Friday).

For Thursday, expect snow on and off.

The high will be 0 C in Calgary, but that will be at midnight and the temperature will drop throughout the day, rather than warm:

As we head into a long weekend, many have travel plans, but on Friday, Highway 2 and west will be tricky.

Snow will be heavy at times, reducing visibility, and the roads will be slick.

Here is a look at likely snowfall amounts for the time period of Thursday through Friday:

You can see higher amounts are expected for the foothills and the mountains, while many communities in the east end will catch one centimetre or less.

Calgary is looking at two to six centimetres, but if upsloping continues a little longer than expected and delivers more than 8.3 centimetres, then we will break a record for the snowiest March in YYC.

The snow will clear out for Saturday and temperatures will start to move back up.

By Sunday afternoon, we should be above freezing again, and by Monday, in the plus double digits.

Sunday marks the start of a longer-term warm-up in which our daytime highs will be above freezing for at least a week.