Josh Classen's forecast: The cold stays and snow returns Wednesday

An aerial image of the Alberta legislature in downtown Edmonton on Dec. 5, 2024. (Cam Wiebe / CTV News Edmonton)

A few more days of cold, arctic air for the Edmonton region and areas to the north and east.

This cold spell should start to break on Friday, although we're probably not back to the -5 C range (seasonal average) until Saturday in Edmonton and it'll take a day or two longer for eastern and northeastern Alberta to warm up.

The long range continues to look mild through the Christmas week with highs near 0 C  for Sunday through Friday and morning lows in the -6 to -11 C range.

But, for the next few days, we're stuck in the -15 to -20 C range for highs in the edmonton region and in the -20 to -25 C range for east-central and northeastern Alberta.

Temperatures this morning have dropped into the mid -20s in the northeast with a wind chill in the mid -30s in Fort McMurray. High Level has less wind, but the actual temperature is in the mid -30s this morning!

An area of low pressure will move in off the Pacific today and should start to push some snow into western Alberta early tonight or early Wednesday.

The system will stay well close to the U.S. border as it moves east and that means the snow zone on the northern edge of that system will be right through the Edmonton area.

Significant snowfall (5-10 cm) is likely for most areas from Grande Prairie/Hinton east to the Edmonton region and then from Lloydminster south to Medicine Hat.

Outside of the main snow zone, Red Deer could get 3-7 cm and areas from Cold Lake north to Fort McMurray will likely get none (or very little).

Pockets of higher accumulation are anticipated in the Grande Cache/Hinton area and a snowfall warning has been issued for that region (10-15 cm).

There's also a bulls-eye of 10-20 cm expected near the Wainwright/Coronation region, so that area could get see a warning issued later today or tomorrow.

Most of the snow in Edmonton will fall through the first half of the day Wednesday. It should taper off to flurries (or end completely) late in the afternoon or early evening.

Here's the forecast for Edmonton and area:

Today - Cloudy this morning. Clearing this afternoon.

High: -17

(temperature falling near -20 in the afternoon)

Tonight - Increasing cloud overnight.

9pm: -22

(temperature rising overnight.

Wednesday - Snow starting early & tapering off late afternoon or early evening.

5 to 10cm likely.

Morning Low: -20

Afternoon High: -19

Thursday - Mix of sun & cloud.

Morning Low: -22

Afternoon High: -15

Friday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -18

Afternoon High: -9

Saturday - Partly cloudy.

WINTER SOLSTICE

Morning Low: -16

Afternoon High: -6

Sunday - Partly cloudy.

Morning Low: -15

Afternoon High: -2