Just 9 days into the month, Regina has already doubled the average number of frigid February days

If it seems like it's colder than usual in Regina, that's because it is just over a week into the month, February has already broughtfive days with temperatures dipping below30 C.

That's double the monthly average of 2.5 days with temperatures that low, according to John Paul Cragg, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada.

"It doesn't look like it's going to warm up this weekend," Cragg said on Friday, but added the cold start to the month is not unprecedented.

Many parts of the province, including Regina, were under extreme cold warnings earlier Friday, but those warnings had all ended by early Friday afternoon.

Cragg said there will be a slight warm-up in the central and southern parts of the province this weekend, meaning people could see temperatures around10 C. Next week, there's no real discernable pattern as to what the weather might feel like.

The current stretch of cold is due to a ridge of arctic air coming down from the territories, Cragg said.

"It's not moving. It's a similar pattern to what we saw around the Christmas holidays with the stretch of six days in Regina where temperatures dipped below 30," he said.

In addition to the bitter cold, the month has been quite dry as Regina has been since around November 2016. Since that time, Regina has seen about 169.6 millimetres of precipitation, the lowest amount since 184.7millimetres fell in 1894.

"What we've been seeing in Saskatchewan over the past while are low-pressure systems that move through central and southern Saskatchewan but they bring the precipitation to more northern areas of the province," Cragg said.