After a fridge couple of weeks in February, the southwestern part of the province is about to experience a bit of a warmup.

According to an expert, that warmer weather is expected to begin today and stay until at least the beginning March.

Environment Canada Meteorologist John Paul Cragg said that weather models weren't showing clear evidence the warmup would happen until the last couple days.

"Now the models are coming together to show a warmup," he said. "Even the chance of temperatures getting above average for this time of year, which is something we haven't seen for the whole run of February so far."

The average temperature in Swift Current this year during February has been -18.8 degrees, much colder than the normal average of -8.7 degrees.

"The arctic air is moving out and the Pacific air is moving back in, with warmer air coming over the mountains into Saskatchewan," Cragg said. "Because of that, we're looking at these nicer temperatures. Hopefully, we won't see the return of that arctic air for a while."

Cragg noted that the last time Swift Current has experienced this cold of a February was in 2014, but the next few days should raise the average temperature for the month.