Josh Classen’s forecast: Autumn starts Sunday but feels like it’s here today

September 20, 2024 Canuck

Showers rolled through the Edmonton region late Thursday night and most of the city picked up around 2 mm of rain.

Some heavier, steadier rain hit areas further south and west of Edmonton and there’s still rain falling to the south and west of the city this morning.

We’re also looking at some showers in the Fort McMurray region and the Peace Country early this morning.

Edmonton and surrounding areas should be mostly dry through the morning hours and we’ll see a bit of sun breaking through the clouds.

The best chance for a few scattered showers in the city comes as we head through the afternoon/early-evening hours.

The big weather story today won’t really be rain, it’ll be the cooler and breezier conditions. Wind picks up to around 20 km/h by midday and we’ll have gusts in the 30-40 km/h range this afternoon.

Temperatures will top out around 15 C this afternoon. That’ll easily be the 2nd-coolest day of the month.

We hit a high of 14 C on Sept. 12 (Thursday of last week), but every other day this month has been 18 C or warmer. Fourteen of the first 19 days of the month have been 20 C or warmer.

So, we get an early taste of some autumnal weather today. Autumn officially starts early Sunday morning.

I don’t think we’ll get any frost IN Edmonton Saturday morning. But…the Peace Country, western Alberta and central Alberta will likely see at least some patchy frost Saturday morning.

Watch for frost warnings or advisories to be issued later today.

It won’t be a quick and dramatic warm-up for the weekend, but temperatures WILL start to climb through Saturday/Sunday and into next week.

The upper trough (cool air aloft) sits over the province today, but it’ll shift out through the weekend.

Sunshine, light wind and high in the 16 to 19 C range for Saturday.

Sunday looks cloudier and there’s a slight chance of some scattered, light showers. There’s a risk EARLY in the morning and then another chance LATE in the afternoon.

Most (if not all) of Sunday will be dry, though. Temperatures will get close to 20 C in the afternoon.

A strong upper ridge (warm air aloft) looks like it’ll build in early next week and early indications have afternoon highs in the mid to upper 20s Tuesday/Wednesday.