Following a sudden burst of arctic air, Estevan was on the receiving end of a blast of cold frostier than any other this year.

With temperatures forecasted at minus 37 and a wind chill reaching minus 49, it was bound to be one of the coldest nights of the year.

Now the temperature's beginning to rise and we can look back on how the cold fared compared to previous chilly nights.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Terri Lang says that the cold, coming in at minus 37.3, broke a pair of records for the day and year.

"That is a record for today, breaks the old record of minus 33.3 set in 1919. And I did look back into January, February, and March, and the coldest weather It's got was minus 35.7 on January 1. So far, yes, this is the coldest day of the year and so far the coldest day of the season."

That cold came down from the north, with the whole system perching itself above the southern end of Saskatchewan.

"A big area of arctic high pressure moved in across the province and where the centre of the high is is usually where the coldest air sits, so because it started out over central Saskatchewan yesterday afternoon and then it moved over southern Saskatchewan in the overnight period."

The rest of the forecast is seemingly a lot more seasonable, though temperatures won't be rising too high.

"Certainly we're getting a rebound because that cold air is moving off into the east and we're getting into more of a westerly slow in the upper atmosphere and what that does is kind of give more seasonal temperatures, not excessively warm and not excessively cold, just sort of steady as she goes."

Lang says that she wouldn't discount the possibility of another cold spike before the end of 2023.