If you thought January weather lacked a bit of winter wallop, you aren't mistaken.

On average, the first month of 2013 was about three degrees warmer than normal in Prince George.

"The Arctic air lingered over the Yukon and Northwest Territories and only the odd time it came into the south," said Environment Canada spokesperson Jim Steele. "The Peace Country, Alberta and Saskatchewan was the dividing line where winter resided for too long. "

The average mean temperature in the city in January was -6.9 C. Normally it's -9.6 C. The mean maximum was -2.7 C (normal is -5.5 C), while the mean low was -11.1C (-13.6 C is normal).

Jan 13 was the coldest day of the month, -27.0 C and the warmest day was Jan. 18 when a sudden blast of heat pushed thermometers to 6.8 C.

While snow shovellers were kept busy, the 50 centimetres of snow and 50.7 of precipitation were slightly below the normal 55.8 cm of snow and 52.7 mm or precipitation for the month. The city recorded 2.6 mm of rain on Thursday, the last day of the month.

Steele said the brutal cold weather patterns of a normal Prince George winter in decades past seem to have been banished to Siberia or some other Arctic clime.

"In the last five or 10 years we're not seeing the cold snaps, not like 20 or 30 years ago," said Steele. "The trend is to be not as cold in winter over central and northern B.C. You're not seeing -35 C days with highs of only -25 C."

Steele has good news for people training outside over the next week in anticipation of the 26th annual Prince George Iceman. Temperatures will be above normal for most of the week with only a few snow days in between now and race day, Sunday, Feb. 10.

"It looks like this next week will be a bit unsettled with snow or rain until about Wednesday or Thursday," Steele said. "It doesn't look like it'll be a big chill, but there won't be a big meltdown either."

Highs are expected to reach 2 C today and 1 C on Sunday, with overnight lows both days in the single minus digits. There's a 40 per cent chance of flurries today and a 60 per cent chance on Sunday.