THUNDER BAY — After riding a rollercoaster of up-and-down temperature swings through February, city residents can expect a pretty comfortable start to the month of March.
Environment Canada expects daytime temperatures and overnight lows from Friday through at least Monday to be several degrees above normal, with considerable sunshine through the entire weekend.
Daily maximums through that period will range between 0 and 2 C, while lows will stay around -8, or about six degrees higher than normal.
According to meteorologist Stephen Flisfeder, forecast models show that the early extended outlook for March is promising.
"So far there's pretty good agreement for the Thunder Bay area, and most of Northwestern Ontario, that temperatures should be near-normal. The first week or so will be above seasonal," he said Tuesday.
But Flisfeder cautioned that the period beyond that could see a return to colder weather.
"Much like February, you'll have that up and down. Warm followed by a period of cold. Right now it's looking like it will last until about the third week in March."
Despite February's dramatic temperature variations in Thunder Bay, statistically the month turned out to be on par with the long-term average.
Flisfeder said the average mean temperature at the airport, not including Feb. 28, was -11.3 C, compared with the normal of -12 C.
