Just when we were falling head over heels for Fall, along comes the snow.

After weeks of being spoiled by above seasonal temperatures across Southern Alberta, Cochranites woke up to snow on Thanksgiving Monday and temperatures below the freezing mark.

Compared to last year's September snowstorm that brought on over 20 cm of the white stuff, this may actually seem like a late start for the snow.

So, is that it for Fall in Cochrane? Well, Environment Canada's Blaine Lowry says that sadly, our above seasonal streak has come to an end. "This week daytime high's will be in the single digits," says Lowry. "Friday's the question mark, there may be a brief warm-up on Friday before the cold front slams through, and then Saturday and Sunday are going to be quite chilly."

While it was snowing off and on for most of the day yesterday, we haven't had to break out our shovels just yet, but Lowry says we can expect to see more of the white stuff hitting the ground over the next couple of days. "There's quite a strong low pressure system making land fall on the BC coast today, " says Lowry. "Later today and through the overnight that's going to spread some precipitation across Western Alberta. Temperatures will be cold enough that that will likely fall as snow."

Lowry says that we could see up to five cm of snow on the ground this week, with daily highs in the low single digits.

He says that Cochranites should be prepared for overnight temperatures to drop significantly by the weekend.

"We have another low pressure system coming through this coming weekend," says Lowry. "Which will drop temperatures to the coldest we've seen actually since last winter."

Lowry says that whether or not there will be snow on the ground by Halloween remains to be seen. "We're entering that time of year when we go through the freeze/thaw cycle," says Lowry. "So any snow you receive isn't necessarily going to stick around. It's going to have a chance to melt when temperatures get above zero during the daytime."

As always, here in Cochrane we are wired to expect the unexpected. Temperatures this week will range from minus ten to plus five degrees.