The warmer temperatures this week may be a shock after the extreme cold we felt last week.

John Paul Cragg, regional meteorologist with Environment Canada, said this fluctuation isn't abnormal for the province.

"It's a bit of a roller coaster ride in Saskatchewan through the winter and that's because Saskatchewan gets affected by two very different air masses," he explained.

Cold arctic air can streams down into the province, bringing cold temperatures from the Northwest Territories - almost unchanged. In contrast, Pacific air comes over the mountains and into the Prairies, which warms things up.

"Often we get this back and forth with very cold temperatures ending quite abruptly and then that warm Pacific air and really raising the temperatures up," he said.

Cragg predicts for the second half of January, we can likely expect warmer air coming through our area.

However, don't expect too much snow to melt.

"It takes quite a bit of warmth to get that snow melting and with temperatures freezing mostly overnight across Saskatchewan the melting can't really take hold," he said.

When melting really gets going, he added, is when daytime temperatures are well above freezing and the overnight lows don't dip below zero.

The highest temperature recorded in January in the Weyburn area is 11.5 C, set in 1988.