It's too early to declare an early spring just yet.
The warmer-than-usual weather the city is forecast to enjoy over the next few days is expected to give way to colder temperatures next week, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Matt MacDonald.
"Is it here for good? Unfortunately not," MacDonald said Monday. "On Wednesday night we're going to see a good cold front sweep through the area and likely deliver some snow.
"And then, even as we enter next week, temperatures are going to drop on Sunday and will return to near or below normal temperatures beginning with the work week next week."
Norms for this time of year are highs of 6 C and lows of -5 C.
Last week saw highs of -7 C and lows of -15 C accompanied by enough snowfall to make for a bittersweet week at the Otway Nordic Centre.
Otway was to host the 2017 National and North American biathlon championships March 6-12. But in late February the event and the 200 athletes it was to bring to the city was moved to Canmore due to the lack of snow locally.
As it turned out, Mother Nature brought the best conditions Otway had seen this winter.
Above-normal warmth is now in play with the white stuff quickly melting around the city. Chances of showers are also in the forecast.
"It seems like we've gone from one side to the other," MacDonald said. "We were significantly colder than normal...and now we're onto much warmer than normal, so pretty abrupt change there."
For much of the winter, the weather has been coming in from the northwest.
"That supports, obviously, colder-than-normal air masses and quite unstable air masses, which is why we've seen rounds of heavy flurries at times and generally cool temperatures," MacDonald said.
"And now we've switched to a southwesterly flow, so bringing in humid and mild air from the central Pacific."
Even so, overnight temperatures will drop below zero.
"So particularly on Thursday morning, be on the lookout for potentially icy surfaces, potential of black ice, with the passage of that cold front," MacDonald said.
