Early wintry conditions in Alberta won't last, Weather Network predicts

Albertans can look forward to a mild fall through next month despite snow on the ground in some communities, The Weather Network forecasts.

Nationwide, the network is predicting that winter won't come early this year and that Canadians will get to experience an overall mild fall from now until the end of November.

"Our forecast team at The Weather Network is seeing this fall as less of a roller-coaster ride than we normally see as we go from summer into winter," said The Weather Network's chief meteorologist, Chris Scott.

"We are going to see some weeks where it's warm and some weeks that are cold, but this year it's not quite the steepness of the drops and rises we sometimes see this time of the year."

• Nervous, anxious times for Alberta's dairy, poultry, egg farmers
• Weather hampers search for home-built plane missing between Chilliwack and Edmonton

Scott said even though some parts of Canada, such as Alberta and British Columbia, have already had snow, Canadians "won't see the sudden drop into winter as we normally do."

"We're not going to lock into a winter pattern right in November it looks like, so that means we've got a couple months to go here where folks that like fall foliage — they're going to get their chance to enjoy the fall colours," he said. "There's going to be a pretty good amount of time to go hiking and do activities outdoors."

Prairies: 'Gentler, milder fall'

"Over the last 10 days it seems like we've plummeted into an early winter — that won't last. We're going to snap out of it and get some milder weather especially through October," said Scott.

Also forecast are drier than normal conditions across southern Alberta, with near to slightly below normal precipitation anticipated elsewhere in the Prairies, including Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

"For November, while it can hold some snowy surprises, we don't think we're dropping into the minus 20s that we sometimes do in the second and third week of November. So the gentler, milder fall applies here," he said.

Scott said there will be a smooth transition in temperature through the fall months toward December. He said Canadians can expect near normal or above normal temperatures for most of the country.

• MORE ALBERTA NEWS | City offers online emergency preparedness course to Calgarians
• MORE ALBERTA NEWS | High River museum director takes a walk through the town's history
• Read more articles by CBC Calgary, like us on Facebook for updates and subscribe to our CBC Calgary newsletter for the day's news at a glance.

With files from CBC Calgary.