The storms arrived only three days after the city recorded temperatures as high as 23C. Calgarians have long been accustomed to such a love-hate relationship with the city\u2019s weather. And yet, despite a history with nature\u2019s capriciousness, one does wonder: Is this normal? Will this ever stop? Is this the beginning of the apocalypse?<\/p>\n
\u2018Pretty standard for Alberta\u2019<\/p>\n
Heather Rombough, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says such wild swings, for Alberta, are par for the course: \u201cI would say this is pretty standard weather for Alberta. You always joke about the May long weekend that if you go camping in the mountains, you\u2019re probably going to get snowed on.\u201d<\/p>\n
What she points to is a phenomenon called the jet stream \u2014 a rapid, narrow band of air current high in the atmosphere flowing east to west, and that also marks the separation between warmer and colder air masses. Adding to the mix is a system called the upper ridge that causes a bulge in that separation, meaning the line curves upward, bringing warmer air to regions in the north.<\/p>\n
Currently, Rombough said, the upper ridge is stuck in the Pacific region, unable to reach Calgary. Which means the region is currently experiencing a low-pressure system, in which air rises because it is less dense than its surroundings, subsequently cooling off and falling to the ground in the form of precipitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain exactly why, because it\u2019s Mother Nature and atmosphere, kind of does whatever it does,\u201d Rombough said.<\/p>\n
The weather\u2019s whims on occasion even elude scientists tracking its movement.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/48d5f4968159f2e0f6f0ca7117d406f4.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Damage to a Plus 15 on 2nd Avenue near 3rd Street S.W. due to a wind storm in Calgary on Friday.<\/p>\n
For instance, as miserable as the weather is, it could have been much worse.<\/p>\n
The forecast originally calling for a heavy snow dump over three days had been downgraded to light flurries, with no more than four centimetres expected.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, several golf courses were closed again despite the city\u2019s recent pledge to open its Maple Ridge, McCall Lake, and Shaganappi courses \u2014 weather permitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a positive spring weather outlook, City staff have been working diligently in clubhouses and on course maintenance to prepare for the start of the golf season and to provide the best possible early-season playing conditions for our guests,\u201d the release stated just days ago.<\/p>\n
Snow returns<\/p>\n
The promise was short-lived. All were closed Saturday, the greens and fairways blanketed by snow.<\/p>\n
On Friday, RCMP advised against travel on many highways east of Calgary, with high winds, blowing snow, ice and poor visibility reported in some areas. Highways 897, 41, 45 and 16 were impacted by \u201cextremely poor driving and road conditions.\u201d Officers also responded to multiple collisions and described conditions as \u201ctreacherous.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/9d9a0c6e70fb92cec976966b3454a589.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Pedestrians brace against the strong winds in downtown Calgary on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Temperatures will hover around -3C on Sunday with 60 per cent chance of flurries during the day and fall to -10C at night.<\/p>\n
Rombough said the weather will stabilize by next week, and by Wednesday, temperatures will rise until the weekend, when the city will cool off again. What happens after that is hard to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginally, the forecast for here was supposed to be 10 degrees this weekend, which obviously did not happen,\u201d Rombough said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong-range forecast gets really tricky beyond the first week, especially even just the first few days can be tough, but it does look like warmer for the end of this coming week and then a bit cooler again on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
hmansukhani@postmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just as Calgarians again emerged from their wintry cocoons and into the sunlight with fewer layers, ready to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48,235611,235612,5097,207249],"class_list":["post-629006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-heather-rombough","tag-rombough","tag-temperatures","tag-the-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}