Weather will be warmer, smokier and possibly stormy in Calgary

CALGARY -

On Wednesday our heat warnings expanded to include a much wider berth; Okotoks and Red Deer have joined the pack, and our eastern boundary with Saskatchewan up to Bonnyville.

I won't keep you waiting – the headline includes the word 'stormy', after all. What a treat that might be.

Our expectations must remain tempered, however; CAPE values for the Calgary area (convective available potential energy) exist, but the potential for a storm trigger will remain a question mark.

Thursday and Friday, shortwaves will strike out and push cold air in – that's part of the reason Calgary remains free of a heat warning, and it will likely trigger thundershowers in parts of the province, some of which will be sever.

That B-Zone is marked for high winds, hail, and isolated thundershowers; Calgary's not even included, all thanks to our convective inhibition.

Having storm fuel around us (heat) is great, and all, but while we can have gas in the car, there's no guarantee for a key in the ignition. So, the question mark remains.

Friday, another chance off the foothills exists for a wave of showers. It's another small chance, but we'll take it.

As this high pressure ridge above us expands, it will continue to swamp us with smoky, sinking air. Early Thursday (6:35 a.m. as of this writing), we're already coping with an air quality health index of 4, or "moderate" – we have subsident air to blame. Further on, a moderate air quality health index is likely to persist.

Your five-day:

Thursday

• Mainly "sunny," smoke
• Daytime high: 27 C
• Evening: hazy, slight chance for a thundershower, low 16 C

Friday

• Mainly "sunny," smoke, possible afternoon isolated storms
• Daytime high: 27 C
• Evening: hazy, low 17 C

Saturday

• Sunny, smoke
• Daytime high: 30 C
• Evening: mainly clear, low 17 C

Sunday

• Sunny
• Daytime high: 30 C
• Evening: mainly clear, low 15 C

Monday

• Partly cloudy
• Daytime high: 28 C
• Evening: some cloud, low 15 C

For our pics of the day, we have a beautiful, fiery sort of smoky sunset sent in by Barb:

And a smoke-free photo of Saskatoon berries in bloom, taken by Kurt!

On Wednesday our heat warnings expanded to include a much wider berth; Okotoks and Red Deer have joined the pack, and our eastern boundary with Saskatchewan up to Bonnyville.

Thank you for sending, all! You can submit your weather photos here, or email me: Kevin Stanfield , OR you can just tweet at me.