As the saying often goes in Alberta, “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes, and it’ll change!”
The province is certainly no stranger to extreme temperature swings and changes, and this is thanks in part to the effects of Chinook winds.
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Away from the foothills, chilly temperatures have been the dominant trend recently, but closer to the foothills, milder temperatures have been present. Wednesday was no different, with many weather stations seeing temperatures jump up, and then drop back down rather quickly.
Cardston saw one of the larger extremes. The morning started out sitting at -13°C at 8 am, combined with a northerly wind. As soon as the winds shifted to the southwest, and the cold air warmed up as it rode down the Rockies, the temperature reached a balmy 9°C by 11 am. This temperature held steady for a couple of hours. Then on a dime, with the wind shifting back to the north, the temperature dropped back down to a chilly -13°C.
That’s a rise of 22°C, followed by a rapid drop of 22°C — all within just a matter of hours!
Meanwhile, Calgary started out the day at -17°C, “warming” up to only -14°C.
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The most famous Chinook winds develop along the Front Range of the Rockies, from Alberta down to Colorado. Thanks to the typical winter-time position of the jet stream in North America, the most intense Chinooks frequent southern Alberta, from about Calgary down to central Montana.
They’re particularly potent during the cool seasons, when onshore flow into British Columbia sends especially moist air up over the mountains—moisture that then condenses as the air mass rises, falling as rain or snow on the windward side of the mountain chains. As the now-drier air mass sinks on the leeward side of the mountains, it warms, bringing the drastic swings in temperatures.
