This year's warmups have teased an early jump into the next season, but winter snaps back with dropping temperatures every time.  

Wind chills ranging from -25 to -38 drifted into Swift Current last week, issuing an extreme cold warning from Environment Canada—but the deep freeze didn't stick around for long. 

Meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada, Eric Dykes, said the trend of fluctuating temperatures has been felt by most of the prairies this winter. 

“We've got warmth coming our way, which is lovely for those who enjoy the warmer temperatures, of course,” he said. “Normally for this time of year, we're looking for highs around -2, and lows around -12, and that is precisely what we're looking at getting for the next few days, at least to start the work week.” 

Some light snowfall made its way through the city this morning, and Dykes estimated that it will tomorrow as well. 

However, the high temperatures for the week are ranging from -5 tomorrow to +1 degrees on Friday, with lows from -13 tonight to -6 on Thursday night. 

“This has everything to do with the fact that we have in the upper atmosphere a flow coming in right from the west,” Dykes explained. "All the pacific air is just ushering in across the Rocky Mountains, through southern Alberta, into southwestern Saskatchewan. And a benefactor of that is of course Swift Current.  

“So that's what's going to help to propel our temperatures back towards normal for the first half of the workweek, and then that trend just really does continue and apply as we get into the latter half of the week where we see temperatures starting to climb above the freezing mark.” 

He added that in checking the Canadian Meteorological Centre, which focuses on longer-term prognostications, he found that the cold is expected to come back.  

“As we get into the middle of March, temperatures could be anywhere between, perhaps 4 to 8 degrees below normal for this time of year,” he said. “So, suffice it to say, this warmup looks like it'll be just for a few days and not through the coming weeks, but it's certainly one that's been welcomed considering the temperatures we had last week.”