Josh Classen's forecast: Autumn's here and the heat's coming

An aerial shot of the Terwillegar Drive NW and Haddow Drove NW intersection in south Edmonton on Sept. 20, 2024. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

Summer's over, but we're not done with heat just yet.

Edmonton hit 21 C on Sunday and we'll be in the same ballpark this afternoon.

That's warm...but not really heat. It's Tuesday/Wednesday that we slide into legitimately hot conditions.

There's an upper ridge (warm air aloft) building in that'll have us under sunny skies for Tuesday and most of Wednesday.

Temperatures will start out in the low to mid teens in the mornings and afternoon highs will get to the mid 20s Tuesday and upper 20s Wednesday.

(There's a shot at hitting 30 C on Wednesday, but I think we'll probably end up just short of that)..

The average high for this week is 17 C.

Record highs are 28.7 C for Sept. 24 (2001) and 31.9 C (2011) on Sept. 25. 

So...we'll be closer to the record highs than the average highs.

A low-pressure system drives in from the west Wednesday afternoon and that'll bring some showers to western and northern Alberta late Wednesday.

It looks like most/all of that precipitation will avoid Edmonton, but I'm putting a 30-per cent chance of a shower into the Wednesday evening forecast.

Temperatures will drop back closer to average for Thursday-Saturday: back into the 15 to 20 C range for highs.

 

Here's the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Partly cloudy.

High: 21

 

Tonight - Mainly clear.

9pm: 17

 

Tuesday - Mainly sunny.

Morning Low: 14

Afternoon High: 26

 

Wednesday - Partly cloudy. 30% chance of an evening shower.

Morning Low: 14

Afternoon High: 28

 

Thursday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: 10

Afternoon High: 19

 

Friday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: 9

Afternoon High: 20

 

Saturday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: 6

Afternoon High: 17