Josh Classen’s forecast: Windy, wet, warm and melty

The sun rises behind the downtown Edmonton skyline on Dec. 6, 2024. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

The warming trend continues, although it won’t be in a straight line over the coming days.

And, today’s warmest temperatures will probably be through the morning hours, with a slight drop coming this afternoon.

Wind speeds around 15-20 km/h with gusts in the 30-40 km/h range are likely for much of today.

So...we’ll be up around 5 C for a high today, then back around 0 C for a high Thursday. Back to the 5 C range for Friday and then returning to highs near 0 C for Sunday and Monday.

Looking longer-range: highs near 5 C are likely again for Tuesday/Wednesday of next week.

Bottom line...we’ll get some undulating daytime highs in the coming days, with all of them remaining solidly above average and most of them above 0 C.

(Average high for Jan. 8-12 is -8C.)

If we look really REALLY far out into the future, we may see some colder air move back in around the Jan. 18/19.

Precipitation Outlook:

A few showers are likely in the Edmonton area this morning (moving in from the north).

There’s been some wet snow northeast of Edmonton through the early-morning hours (Athabasca/Lac La Biche/Smoky Lake area). That snow is dropping southeast into east-central Alberta for the mid-to-late morning hours.

But, we also have a bit of rain on the western flank of that precipitation and that’s what we’ll see move through parts of the Edmonton region this morning.

Looking ahead:

We’ll have some mixed precipitation in northwestern Alberta on Thursday with a freezing rain risk for Grande Prairie south toward Grande Cache Thursday night.

Friday has a VERY GOOD chance of some mixed precipitation in the Edmonton area with a risk of freezing rain in the morning and then the potential for snow or a rain/snow mix in the afternoon.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Morning clouds with a few showers in the area this morning.

Partly cloudy this afternoon.

Wind NW 15-20 with gusts in the 30-40 km/h range.

High: 6

Temperature falling to 2 by late afternoon

Tonight - Mainly clear. Wind easing.

9pm: 0

Thursday - Mainly sunny.

Morning Low: -3

Afternoon High: 1

Friday - Mostly cloudy. 60% chance of rain/snow.

Risk of freezing rain in the morning.

Morning Low: -3

Afternoon High: 5

30% chance of snow in the evening.

Saturday - Mostly cloudy. 30% chance of rain/snow mix.

Morning Low: 0

Afternoon High: 3

Sunday - Mostly cloudy.

Morning Low: -5

Afternoon High: -1

Monday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -8

Afternoon High: -1