Edmonton weather: Arctic air digs in for a few days

An aerial image of downtown Edmonton the morning of Dec. 3, 2024. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

After a few centimetres of snow overnight, we’re cloudy, breezy and cold in the Edmonton region and that won’t change much throughout the day.

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We should see some sunny breaks this afternoon, but temperatures will hold steady around -22 C and wind chills will be in the -30 C range for most of the day.

That means frostbite on exposed skin is possible in as little as 20-30 minutes.

Wind eases late this afternoon and it should be calm tonight and through the day Friday.

The deep freeze will linger through the day Friday and most of Saturday. But, we’ll start to see temperatures climb late Saturday and we’ll get a brief reprieve from the arctic air early next week.

For Friday, we’ll slide close to -30 C in the morning and we’ll be stuck in the -20s all day in Edmonton.

Northern Alberta will get temperatures in the mid -30s and afternoon highs in the mid -20s.

Southern Alberta gets a shot of snow that mainly affects areas from Red Deer south. Several centimetres of snow is expected throughout Friday in the south.

There might be a few flurries in the Edmonton region, but the heavier snow will all stay well to the south of the city.

Saturday morning will be around -30 C again (wind chill in the mid -30s) and then the wind picks up in the afternoon. So, temperatures should get to the minus teens, but wind chill will be in the mid -20s Saturday afternoon.

Sunday sees temperatures climb back closer to -10 C and then we’re up near the freezing mark on Monday.

If you’ve been reading these WxBlogs all week, you know that there was some uncertainty with whether or not that warmer air would stretch far enough north to get to Edmonton.

That picture is becoming a little clearer and it now looks very likely that we’ll see the warm air ripple up over us, but not for long.

Another cooling trend will start on Tuesday and we should be right back to highs near -20 Cfor the end of next week.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Cloudy this morning. Mix of sun & cloud this afternoon.

Wind - NW 20 gusting to 30 this morning, NW 10 this afternoon.

Temperature steady near -22

***wind chill in the -28 to -32 range throughout the day

Tonight - A few clouds. Light wind

9pm: -24

Friday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of flurries. Light wind.

Morning Low: -28

Afternoon High: -23

Saturday - Mix of sun & cloud. Wind becoming SE 20 gusting to 30.

***wind chill near -35 in the morning, -24 in the afternoon.

Morning Low: -28

Afternoon High: -14

Sunday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning: -16

Afternoon High: -11

Monday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -14

Afternoon High: -3

Tuesday - Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of late-day snow

Morning Low: -12

Afternoon High: -10