We're in for a roller-coaster ride this winter.
That's what the Weather Network meteorologists are predicting.
The Journal spoke with the Weather Networks' Chris Scott on an unseasonably mild November 30, when temperatures hovered around -5C and the snow on the ground was sparse.
Overall, the Weather Network is forecasting and expecting a slightly colder than normal winter this year.
"North of the Yellowhead (in Saskatchewan), the pattern will be a little bit below normal for temperatures," Scott stated.
"But that doesn't mean there won't be breaks... We're in for a roller coaster ride this winter."
Scott said that the weather this part of Saskatchewan received in November is a good indication of things to come.
After a warmer than usual fall, temperatures plummeted to the -20C mark at the beginning of the month, before snapping out of that trend about five days later, and warming up again towards the end of the month.
December, January and February won't be as warm as November was, Scott noted, but "we will see a lot of these swings," he said.
It's going to be cold, then warm up.
The Humboldt region, the Weather Network believes, is going to be on a dividing line, with cold air to the north and warm air to the south, he said.
"We think the cold is going to win out," he said, but they don't think those cold temperatures are going to lock in for weeks on end.
"There will be reprieves," he said. "It won't be minus-30 for the whole time."
Temperatures in this part of the province won't swing as wildly as they're predicting they will in the southwest corner of the province, around Swift Current. Those centres will see dramatic changes in temperature, he noted, due to warm air coming from Alberta and bitterly cold air coming from the Arctic.
As for snowfall, Scott expects things to be normal for Saskatchewan this year.
"We're expecting a fairly typical amount. We're not seeing anything that would suggest a wild winter in terms of snowfall," he said.
Last year, it was a pretty big winter in Saskatchewan for snowfall, he said.
"This year is closer to normal."
That means somewhere around 100 cm to 110 cm of snow over the winter, with about 20 cm in December and January.
"I think in general, it's going to be on track for that type of winter in terms of snowfall," he said.
