Strong west wind in Calgary today

UPDATES: Our temperatures haven't shifted all that much. We dipped our toe into freezing temperatures in the 7 o'clock hour, bottoming at 9 with -4.4 C, but then stormed back with strong west wind and gusts back in the 60s. This brought us to a midday pinnacle of at least 9.1 C, but we'll have a better answer around 5:40 on CTV!

The only other update would be the presence of wind warnings up into Cochrane and beyond to Airdrie. Those will likely fade or vanish across most of the warning area by late this afternoon; the extreme southwest will taper this evening. 

WIND WARNING from Environment Canada: https://t.co/gUShKuBfCW #abstorm #yyc #Calgary pic.twitter.com/Jt0Je7cgUO

— Kevin Stanfield (@CTVStanfield) January 11, 2022

Warm wind will continue for a little while yet! Tomorrow is expected to be a calmer day at the surface, with upper turbulance driving surface temperatures to our third toasty day in a row.

Also of note: air quality has improved! We're back in a cycle where pollutants are rising away.

 

If you liked yesterday, you'll probably glean some measure of enjoyment from today and tomorrow! Both are expected to drive in west wind, though the speed is variable between the two.

The moniker I've given to that region is "The Usual Suspects" as it pertains to west wind. Cross-wind will be a threat for north-south highway drivers, with the main body of that wind working directly over Lethbridge for the early afternoon as it migrates longitudinally across the province. I am not backing down from a high potential of 10 C for Calgary today. Our gusts yesterday evening peaked in the 60 km/h range, and while I'’ll maintain 40-50 km/h gusts are more likely for our early afternoon, there's a possibility to once again sneak back to the 60s. Our overnight "high" (not a thing, but we’ll play into it) was 6 C at 3 a.m.

Roads this morning will be wet, but a complete lack of overnight freezing (and our projected low of 1 C) seems to have held up, so far.

Wednesday's conditions will involve west wind, but gusts are less likely. We'll just ride the energy and keep it around. Thursday, things take a slight turn. An impulse is moving through and cooler air is expected to develop. We could see afternoon flurries, though the chance for them has dropped off, slightly. With that, we're still eyes-up on the potential "coolest day of the week" – which is sitting pretty and well above the normal low value of -13.5 C for this time of year.

YOUR FIVE-DAY FORECAST:

Tonight

• some cloud, low 0 C

Wednesday

• Mainly sunny
• Daytime high 9 C
• Evening: mainly clear, low 0 C

Thursday

• Mainly cloudy, chance of afternoon showers/flurries
• Daytime high 4 C
• Evening: flurries tapering, mainly cloudy, low -8 C

Friday

• Mainly sunny
• Daytime high 2 C
• Evening: some cloud, low 0 C

Saturday

• Sunny
• Daytime high 5 C
• Evening: some cloud, low -5 C

Sunday

• Sunny
• Daytime high 1 C
• Evening: some cloud, low -4 C

Let's close with a massive thank you to the incredible number of photos we've received over the last few days! We're VERY grateful!

Thanks to Gord for this sunrise from yesterday:

And to Kevin for this shot of the arch yesterday:

And to Dominique for this sunset yesterday!

You can submit your photos here, email me here, or tweet them over! We're also freshly minted on Instagram and waiting on a few approvals before daily posts pop up there: @CTVCalgaryWeather