Enjoy Winnipeg's nice weather before it's gone

The weather outside's delightful … but it's about to get downright nasty.

People in Winnipeg poured into parks on Thursday to embrace the mild temperatures — a reprieve from bitter cold that has gripped much of the winter so far.

"There's no wind. It's not too cold. So we really wanted to come out and enjoy the couple of days of really nice weather," said Joanna Bowles, who joined her family for a skate on the Assiniboine Park duck pond, while tobogganers lined up at the nearby hill and people strolled around the pond.

The temperature at the time was about –12 C in the afternoon, which the normal mark for this time of year but about twice as warm as it has been.

On Friday, the daytime high is expected to reach –2 C.

Then the weather does a quick change on Saturday as a mass of Arctic air moves in. The temperature will only get to about –25 C that day and the low that night will likely be near –30 C with wind chills that will make it feel nearer –40 C.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Winnipeg as the low pressure system tracks through southern Saskatchewan towards North Dakota by Saturday morning, then into Manitoba.

Along with the cold, up to 10 centimetres of snow is expected to fall across southern Manitoba from Dauphin to Pinawa.

And strong northerly winds of 40 km/h gusting to 60 km/h will create reduced visibility in blowing snow.

There is even the potential for localized blizzard conditions.

The cold temperatures will linger into next week, dropping even further to about –28 C for the daytime highs.