A Special Weather Statement is in effect due to cold temperatures and heavy snowfall expected to begin in the next couple of days.

While a high of 19°C is expected for Tuesday, April 2, things will take a sharp turn on Wednesday.

Environment & Climate Change Canada Meteorologist Heather Pimiskern says rain will soon turn to heavy snowfall.

"We'll have cold air move in from the north and this will bring some showers and snow to the region beginning on Wednesday. We are anticipating the rain will begin sometime late Wednesday morning or afternoon and it'll be fairly persistent for most of the night and into Thursday. It is by Thursday morning that we are anticipating the rain will switch to snow, and the snow will continue into Friday."

In the area of Foothills County, the total amount of snow could vary.

"We are looking at the potential for upwards of 5-15 centimetres for the Okotoks region. Higher amounts are expected along the foothills to the west, however, it is possible that, due to the convective nature of the system, the region could see localized pockets of 15 or more centimetres," says Pimiskern.

Though the snowfall from that system is expected to end on Friday, the rest of the weekend will see more precipitation.

Pimiskern says another system is expected to kick in on Saturday.

"It's really quite interesting, we have two systems that are going to be back to back to one another... a secondary system comes in on Saturday and will continue into Sunday. It looks as though it'll be another mix of precipitation between rain and snow that will be in the area for those two days."

You can keep up to date with the forecast on our weather page.