By Taylor Chartrand

A roller-coaster of weather

Dec 29, 2018 | 1:47 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – If you feel like the weather has been up and down lately, you’d be right.

After getting a fresh blanket of snow on Christmas Eve, things have been back and forth.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Amanda Prysizney said it looks like the roller-coaster ride will continue heading into the coming days.

“Today in the Medicine Hat area, it’ll be fairly mild temperatures,” said Prysizney. “It’s going to be a lovely day, but mostly cloudy.”

Environment Canada is expecting winds to pick up in southern Alberta this evening. 

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“We do have wind warnings in effect for areas west of Medicine Hat. It’s fairly windy pretty much everywhere in southern Alberta today.”

Winds are anticipated to pick up around 80 km/hr this evening in Medicine Hat. Around midnight or so, the winds should decrease to about 30-50 km/hr. 

“So, a fairly gusty and windy evening, but the wind should die down overnight. As well, there is a low-pressure system forming over the elbow region of Alberta.”

With that, there are significant snowfall amounts coming for the north and central parts of Alberta, including Banff and Jasper. 

“With that low-pressure system, as it moves off into southeastern Alberta Sunday, Medicine Hat should see a little bit of snow, but it shouldn’t be too much in terms of accumulations. Maybe a few cm’s at most.”

Behind that low-pressure system, the winds are going to come from the north and be fairly gusty again on Sunday. 

“Maybe gusts as high as 60-70 km/hr for the Medicine Hat area. With that, there’s a cold front passing through. The reason the winds are from the north is because it’s behind a cold front. With that, temperatures are going to fall throughout the day.”

Prysizney said temperatures will drop to about -13 Sunday afternoon. 

“Throughout the day Sunday, Medicine Hat will start with milder temperatures and snow, but by the end of the day it’ll be quite the different experience. Those colder temperatures are set to be in place for Monday as well.” 

For those warm weather enthusiasts, there is good news for Tuesday through Thursday. 

“We’re expecting temperatures to be well above normal. Could be as high as plus 5 or plus 7. We’re advertising a high of plus 11 for Thursday.”

For this time of year (late December, early January) the average seasonal temperatures in Medicine Hat are highs of -6 and lows around -16.

Prysizney said there are some big changes coming in the next little bit and people should be tuned into the forecast.

“Dress accordingly and adjust your travel, especially with this windy and snow-filled system coming through. Just be aware of the drastic changes over the next week or so.”