Warmer temperatures expected across Canada this weekend

Watch the video above: Temperatures across Canada will start to increase on Friday.

TORONTO – After experiencing a vicious deep freeze, a January thaw is on its way for almost the entire country.

While record low temperatures have been set across many parts of the country over the past week, above-normal temperatures will descend on the very same areas this weekend, beginning on Friday.

British Columbia has been the one exception to the cold: almost the entire province is enjoying slightly higher than normal temperatures.

READ MORE: Will this be Canada’s coldest winter?

In Calgary, where the cold seems to have started its journey, the city is already feeling the “warmth.” Well, a relative warmth of 4 C considering just four days ago it had a high of just -14.4 C and a low of -25.5 C. The average daytime high is -3 C. Saturday’s forecast high is expected to be 7 C.

And it seems that the further east you go, the better it gets.

Regina, which saw a daytime high of just -26.4 C four days ago, and is still only near -10 C, will see a warmth of -2 C. Sure, may not sound as good as 7 C, but that’s a jump of 24 degrees in two days. Calgary is only seeing a jump of 21 degrees.

And then there’s Winnipeg, which undoubtedly earned its nickname of “Winterpeg” during the entire month of December when it only reached an average daytime high of -15.8 C (daily average is -14.4 C). Even though the city’s daytime high was -21.8 C on Wednesday, by Saturday it will be a balmy -6 C.

READ MORE: Winnipeg posts second-coldest December since 1893

Toronto, which is unaccustomed to Tuesday’s bone-chilling cold of -17.3 C (resulting in a ground-stop of airplanes at Pearson International Airport), will reach 5 C by Saturday.

Montreal will reach a high of 8 C after facing a high of just -11.1 on Tuesday, and Halifax will see a high of 9 C by Sunday.

Still, don’t be fooled by Mother Nature: winter is not even half over and you never know what she has up her sleeve.

In fact, a week later, temperatures will return to normal for almost the entire country.

So, if you’re able to find some salt somewhere, stock up: we’ve got plenty of winter on the way.