Extended thaw coming to Saskatchewan as winter takes a breather

Saskatchewan has bid farewell to the arctic chill and is welcoming an extended stretch of mild winter weather.

“There is a pretty big warmup on the way for Saskatchewan this weekend courtesy the polar vortex, which has retreated well to the north back into the high Arctic,” said Brad Vrolijk, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

“A more mild Pacific air mass is able to push its way eastward across the prairies. Essentially, we’re going to see much, much warmer weather than we’ve seen the last couple of weeks spread across Saskatchewan.”

While the bulk of the province will see above-freezing temperatures in the coming days, the warmest air will be felt in the southwest parts of Saskatchewan.

For both Regina and Saskatoon, the mercury will hover near or above the freezing mark this weekend, with even warmer temperatures expected next week. But the meteorologist said it’s a bit tricky to predict how warm the temperatures will be.

“There’s still snow on the ground all over the place, and that tends to keeps things cooler,” Vrolijk said.

Vrolijk said Saskatchewan residents can start planning more outdoor activities, as he doesn’t see any more extreme cold on the horizon.

“To be honest, there’s not an end in sight. The warm weather looks like it will continue right through next week at the very least,” he said.

“It’s been a pretty mild winter overall, and when we have strong El Niños, the prairies often see a warmer and drier winter than typical. So far it does seem this is following the trend where we’ll seeing plenty of warm weather.”