The month of January is expected to be warmer than it was last year at this time thanks to El Niño

But before we can feel the milder temperatures that come with that weather pattern, the Foothills will have to deal with some frigid temperatures for the rest of the week.

Meterologist with Environment Canada, Kirk Thorneby says the high's are going to be in the double digits... unfortunately on the minus side of the thermometer.

"For this week it looks like there's a bunch of cold air starting to flood down across the province, it might warm up a bit but more cold air is coming through the early part of this week," he says. "By the latter part Thursday-Friday we're probably looking at highs of -11 to -13 as the cold air comes down."

Thorneby says despite the cold, there won't be much snow in the forecast though.

"We might see some light flurries late in the week, no more than a couple of centimetres, slight reprieve towards the weekend maybe we're we're getting up close to those near normal temperatures of minus five and then into the cold air for next week again probably with temperatures into the mid-minus teens."

After that though, Thorneby says January will warm up.

"The long range seasonal forecast is in El Niño pattern, El Niño is usually most pronounced over the winter months in January, February and March," he says. "This year historically with El Niño patterns set up we're talking about warmer than average temperatures and precipitation on average are a little bit less."

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