Harsh cold has taken its toll on a lot of the U.S. and Canadian Prairies this week, but there is some good news for spring lovers out there, with temperatures forecast to quickly flip warmer this weekend and next week from west to east.

It’s hard to accurately describe just how cold it is for large portions of the Plains and Upper Midwest of the U.S. this week. Temperatures in the Northern Plains and Canadian Prairies dropped down below minus 40 degrees. And at that point, you can use either the Celsius or Fahrenheit scale, it doesn’t matter.

It hasn’t been nearly that cold elsewhere, but temperatures below zero Fahrenheit have showed up as far south as the Texas Panhandle and as far east as lower Michigan and southern Ontario (unless you count the mountains in New Hampshire and Maine).

The good news for those suffering in the cold this week is that warmer temperatures are on their way in.

The upper-level pattern will soon flip over Canada. What was a blocking high-pressure ridge that forced cold, arctic air south into the Canadian Prairies and U.S. will switch to a trough this weekend. That will allow warmer air situated over the Pacific to spread eastward across the majority of North America going into next week.

The switch from a cold, arctic source of air to a mild, Pacific one will mean that temperatures will rise in a hurry.

Image: A cold trough over northern Canada will not stop a warm upper-level ridge in the Pacific from spreading warm air eastward next week. Source: tropicaltidbits.com

Temperatures in the Canadian Prairies and Northern Plains that fell down below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit will suddenly flip to positive 30s Fahrenheit (single digits Celsius) for overnight lows and 40s and perhaps 50s Fahrenheit (upper single digits to lower 10s Celsius) for highs over the course of about three days.

Warmth will also spread south and east from there next week, with temperatures generally above normal for this time of year instead of being 20-40°F below normal like they are this week.

Snow that has fallen across the middle of the U.S. will help drag temperatures down a bit, but that snow should melt rather quickly under the higher sun angle and sunny skies next week. Temperatures will be more reminiscent of April or even May in the north, but more like March in the south.

But like this week’s cold, next week’s warmth won’t last long either, at least for those in the eastern U.S. and Canada. That upper-level trough over Canada will bring down some cooler air later next week and weekend. That is likely to spread into the rest of the middle of the continent in early March, most likely behind a big storm system.

So, while temperatures will rise significantly across the U.S. over the next several days, winter probably isn’t done just yet.