New year brings warm weather back to Saskatchewan

While much of Saskatchewan ended 2018 under an extreme cold warning, the first days of 2019 are shaping up to be considerably warmer.

Environment Canada meteorologist Bryan Van Wilgenburg expects warmer conditions to stick around for a few more days.

“There’s already been one warm front that’s pushed through in the last couple days,” he said. “But there’s going to be another one that pushes through today.”

Van Wilgenburg said warm weather, expected to reach highs of 1 C in Regina and 3 C in Saskatoon, will last until Friday evening when a cold weather system returns.

Warm air moving across the Rocky Mountains from the Pacific Ocean is to thank for the positive temperatures settling over much of the western prairies.

Temperatures over the next three days are expected to be at least 10 degrees higher than average for this time of year.

“(Temperatures will be) a little bit cooler in the north than the south, but otherwise pretty similar,” Van Wilgenburg said.

Normal temperatures in Saskatoon and Regina for this time of year are around -10 C for the daytime highs, with lows typically dipping down to -20 C overnight.