Warm and windy weekend with frost possible overnight in some communities

A very strong west-to-east pattern has established in the southern Prairies – from B.C. through to Manitoba.

As a result, westerly winds are expected to increase throughout the day peaking at 30 to 50 km/h for sustained winds in Calgary with gusts that are even stronger.

This synoptic setup will likely channel winds through two key corridors of the Rockies, including the southwestern corner (near Pincher Creek) and along the northern edge (near Grand Prairie).

As of 7:30 a.m., wind warnings had already been issued for portions of northern British Columbia and the Grand Prairie region on the Alberta side of the border with gusts of up to 90 km/h possible.

The wind warning threshold for southwestern Alberta is slightly higher due to more frequent stronger winds.

A wind warning can be issued for Pincher Creek, Crowsnest Pass, Lethbridge, Waterton, Cardston when sustained winds reach at least 80 km/h and/or gusts of at least 100 km/h, as opposed to 70 km/h for sustained winds and/or wind gusts of at least 90 km/h for the rest of Alberta.

Wind warnings issued by Environment and Climate Change Canada (purple) on Friday, Sep. 27, 2024.

Conditions will remain mostly clear over the weekend and temperatures are expected to hover around 0 C.

For low-lying areas, or communities near water, or those outside of major centres that means frost is likely.

Within Calgary, the lows will mostly be slightly above freezing, but, again, location matters.

Daytime highs and lows will gradually decrease until Monday as a low pressure centre brings a cooler air mass from the north.

But even with that, cooldown temperatures will remain at, or above, seasonal for most of the next five days.