CALGARY -- What a day.

The Alberta Clipper is still in its infancy as I write this in the 6 o'clock hour. It will advance to the Saskatchewan-Manitoba boundary by this evening, with its fast-moving face driving 10-20 cm of snow north of Edmonton in winter storm warnings. Near its core, freezing rain is the big factor, where Edmonton could see a few millimetres drop.

Half of the province is under some variant of warning right now. A bubble encompassing the majority of southern Alberta (Calgary excluded) faces wind warnings where gusts of up to 110 km/h are possible as the Clipper's cold front strikes out. The heaviest band of wind warnings isn't as likely to affect Calgary, as it develops east of us.

In layman's terms: conditions in Calgary today will be mild to start, then drop off in the wake of a chill wind that may drive showers until our temperature falls low enough to support flurries. Our accumulations will be muted.

Here's the five-day forecast:

Today:

  • Cold front, downtrend, rainfall into flurries possible, 70-80 km/h gusts
  • Daytime high: 4 C
  • Evening: some cloud, low -4 C

Thursday:

  • Mainly sunny
  • Daytime high: 0 C
  • Evening: some cloud, low -7 C

Friday:

  • Partly cloudy
  • Daytime high: 5 C
  • Evening: chance of flurries, low -2 C

Saturday:

  • Mainly sunny
  • Daytime high: 3 C
  • Evening: mainly clear, low -6 C

Sunday:

  • Partly cloudy
  • Daytime high: 5 C
  • Evening: some cloud, low -1 C

Two photos today: Let's start with Susan's snap of a homemade Zamboni to commemorate the start of the 2021 NHL hockey season.

homemade, zamboni, Susan, Alberta

And another photo of the roll cloud sunrise, submitted by Don.

roll cloud, sunrise, Alberta, Don

You can submit your weather photos here, or email me here! Kevin Stanfield