It's going to get a bit mucky as the snow melts this weekend as we experience another Chinook. 

Meteorologist with Environment Canada, Terri Lang, explained that people should trade out their snow boots for rubber ones.  

“It looks like those southwesterly winds will kick in those Chinook winds, and you'll be back into the positive single digits and approaching 10 degrees again this weekend.”  

The warm weather will continue into next week which Lang suggests we enjoy as long as we can. Statistically, she said that there we do get another cold snap before officially hitting springtime.  

"There's definitely a good chance that you will dip back down. The average temperatures over the year, the bottoming out of the temperature usually happens around the 3rd to 4th week of January. And theoretically, you should be starting to get warmer, but February of last year was very cold, so we know that there's still quite a bit of winter ahead.” 

While most of us are looking forward to stepping out of the deep freeze, Lang does mention that there is a group of Albertans who could use as much moisture as they can get. “I think the farmers and ranchers would really appreciate more snow as well.” 

According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, in Blackfoot Chinook means "snow eater," which belongs to a family of winds experienced in many parts of the world where long mountain chains lie more or less at right angles to the prevailing wind. 

Scientifically, Meteorologist, Kyle Fougere explained that this weather anomaly has been one of the benefits of living in this area for centuries.  

“A Chinook is when you have westerly winds that come basically from the Pacific, and they rise over the higher terrain in BC. The air rises, it cools and condenses and you get precipitation, and clouds form and it dries out and descends to the eastern side of the Rockies.” 

Hope you get out and enjoy the warm weather this weekend!  

We would love to see what you get up to! Send us your pics at news@strathmorenow.com!  

 

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