Mother Nature will be providing Albertans with a gift of her own this Mother’s Day weekend, as a ridge of high pressure over western Canada is set to bring unseasonably warm weather to much of the province.
“All the major cities are forecast to be anywhere from 4 to 9 C above normal this weekend,” says Global Calgary Weather Specialist Deb Matejicka.
On Friday afternoon, at least one temperature record had already been smashed when the mercury in the town of Drumheller hit 27.6 C, breaking the old record of 22.2 C set in 2017.
In Grande Prairie the mercury hit 24.9 C, just .1 degree higher than the old record.
In Fort McMurray the temperature on Friday hit just shy of a new record at 27 C.
While temperatures in both Calgary and Edmonton are also forecast to hit the mid-to-high 20s this weekend, they’re expected to be several degrees short of breaking records.
Unfortunately, along with the warm weather, comes a chance of thundershowers.
“We’re looking at a moderate risk (40 per cent) of thundershowers and rain tracking through Calgary and central Alberta this evening,” says Matejicka.
That means many people hoping to catch a glimpse of the aurora this evening could be out of luck.
“Unfortunately in Calgary, we are expecting mainly cloudy skies late this evening and overnight when the aurora is expected to be at its strongest,” Matejicka says.
In Edmonton the forecast this evening is for partly cloudy skies.