Spring officially arrives at 9:06 p.m. tonight and it is ushering in a significant shift in the weather. Daytime highs hit double digits in several locations on Monday. The mercury in Mankota reached 16.9 degrees, Coronach at 16.6 and 14.4 in Assiniboia but it wasn’t all in the south because Hudson Bay saw their daytime high rise to 10.8 degrees yesterday. The hot spot in the province Monday was 18.4 degrees in Maple Creek. Saskatoon’s daytime high was 7. 1 degrees and Prince Albert was 10.3 degrees Celsius.  There were 23 new weather records set in BC and 24 new daytime highs in Alberta on Monday. Weather records haven’t been posted for Saskatchewan as yet.

There isn’t any snow in the forecast for the next seven days for Saskatoon or Prince Albert, but temperatures are cooling off significantly. The daytime highs around -8 and -9 will be more comparable to what should be overnight lows. Southern Saskatchewan does have snow in the forecast from Swift Current through Moose Jaw and Regina and east to Moosomin and it is likely part of the weather system about to hit Alberta. There are warnings or special weather statements for all of southern Alberta including Calgary and Red Deer as well as eastern British Columbia with 15 to 25 centimetres of snow expected.