THIS pattern change could send snow flying for Labour Day
Digital Reporter
Tuesday, August 28, 2018, 9:46 PM - As the final week of August wraps up, SNOW was reported west of Calgary along with a windchill making things feel closer to the freezing mark early this week. Get ready for a possible repeat performance this weekend as the "coldest trough in months" is expected to settle over parts of western Canada.
(YOU'RE NOT ALONE: It snowed in British Columbia in July. See it here)
Albertans woke up to the new work week to a shot of snow for some areas on Monday, with flakes falling on Highway 1 near Canmore, west of Calgary, and into the southern Rockies. That was followed on by frost advisories early Tuesday morning as temperatures fell once again down to near 0oC for parts of the province.
Looking to point fingers at this obnoxious interruption to summer? Blame a poorly placed ridge in the jet stream.
"That ridge is creeping northward in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, acting to dislodge colder air up from the Arctic and displacing it further south," says Weather Network meteorologist Erin Wenckstern. "As the ridge weakens and moves further west into the Pacific waters this weekend, a strong trough (cooler air aloft) will be allowed to barrel into the west coast, bringing us another chance for high elevation snowfall."
LONG WEEKEND SNOW POTENTIAL FOR HIGHER ELEVATIONS
After a brief warm up across parts of southern Alberta through late week, the incoming trough brings another cooling pattern by the end of the Labour Day long weekend with more snowy scenes possible across some of the mountainous regions in eastern British Columbia as well as the Rockies.
"So if you have holiday plans in these communities just expect to maybe see some snow flakes at higher elevations that may even coat those mountain peaks as the coldest trough in months pushes over the region Sunday night through Monday," says Tyler Hamilton, another meteorologist at The Weather Network.
WATCH BELOW: COLDEST TROUGH IN MONTHS TEASES FALL AND WINTER MONTHS
WE WEREN'T KIDDING. HERE'S A LOOK AT MONDAY'S SNOWY SCENES:
