if I say “this weekend“ on any week day, it definitely means this most immediate UPCOMING weekend
If i say “next weekend” on a Monday or Tuesday, it likely still means this upcoming weekend, but could be taken into question.
If I say “next weekend” on a Wednesday, however, that can be tricky and may lead to confusion about this upcoming weekend vs. The weekend following.
I’d say always when in doubt best to follow up “this/next weekend” with a date in parenthesis (2/13)
thank you for bringing this to light