Josh Classen’s forecast: Warming trend begins

Another cool morning across central and north-central Alberta, but warmer air starts to push in through the day and we’ll get close to 20 C in Edmonton.

The city hasn’t been above 20 C since last Friday and we may not QUITE get above 20 C today.

But, we’ll be several degrees warmer than the highs of 14 C that we had Monday and Tuesday.

Some showers and thunderstorms will develop in southern Alberta this afternoon, but we’re not expecting any precipitation in the Edmonton region.

It should be a sunny day with just a few clouds this afternoon.

Sunny and into the low 20s for the summer solstice Thursday. Edmonton will likely get to 22 or 23 C in the afternoon.

That’ll start a string of four consecutive days in the 20s (five days if we get above 20.0 C today).

A stretch of 20-something highs that long hasn’t happened yet this year.

We haven’t even had a three-day stretch of days in the 20s, just a couple back-to-backs.

But, we’ll hit the low 20s Thursday and then mid to upper 20s for Friday-Sunday.

AND…Edmonton probably gets it’s hottest day of the year (so far) this weekend.

The “hottest” days so far are:

• 
  May 10: 25.7 C 
• 
  June 11: 25.0 C

Saturday and Sunday should both get to at least 26 C (I have highs of 28 C for now).

The warm spell won’t last beyond the weekend, though. ANOTHER upper trough takes over early next week.

That cooler air aloft brings us back into a cloudy, showery pattern with daytime highs in the 15 to 20 C range for Monday/Tuesday.

Here’s the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today – Sunny with a few afternoon clouds.

High: 20

Tonight – A few clouds.

9pm: 16

Thursday – Mainly sunny.

SUMMER SOLSTICE

Morning Low: 8

Afternoon High: 23

Friday – Sunny with some afternoon clouds. Slight risk of a late-day shower.

Morning Low: 11

Afternoon High: 25

Saturday – Mainly sunny.

Morning Low: 12

Afternoon High: 28

Sunday – Partly cloudy. 30% chance of a late-day shower or thunderstorm.

Morning Low: 15

Afternoon High: 28

Monday – Mostly cloudy. 40% chance of showers.

Morning Low: 13

Afternoon High: 19