One more cool day before a week of warm weather

Thursday will be very similar to Wednesday, but with less wind and fewer clouds in southern Alberta.

As expected, morning temperatures on Thursday were around the freezing mark with mostly clear skies and cold air entering the province from the north.

A large and potent low pressure system parked over Hudson Bay was still impacting areas as far west as Alberta and as far south as the northern U.S. border to the Prairies.

The counter-closckwise rotation around that low has been grabbing Arctic air and spreading it across the country.

Conditions on Thursday will be varied across central and southern Alberta, with light rain early in the day in central Alberta, stronger winds in east-central Alberta (e.g. near Drumheller) by mid-afternoon, and mainly clear in southern Alberta.

The daytime high in Calgary is expected to reach 12 C on Thursday, before but an incoming ridge elevates both the maximum and minimum temperatures for nearly a week.

The weekend will be slightly warmer than the average 15 C, but the big gain will be overnight with lows five to seven degrees above seasonal.