Area residents are advised to enjoy the slight warm-up in temperature for now, because it’s guaranteed to get colder — much colder — this weekend.

That was the word on Monday from Mike Dangelo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Bureau in State College.

Dangelo said the weekend weather will somewhat mimic the weather pattern experienced Sunday, when temperatures dropped to minus 3 or 4 in some areas following warmer weather on Friday and Saturday.

Dangelo said rain will usher a cold front into the area today and this evening, ending the pleasant warm-up experienced Monday.

“The temperatures are going to get colder kind of gradually,” Dangelo continued. “At the end of this week and over the weekend it’s going to be quite a bit below normal” with the lows predicted to be in the teens and highs not quite pushing above 30. He said the coldest temperatures will likely occur Sunday. He admitted the temperature shifts have been somewhat unusual given last month’s unusually warm weather.

“It’s been weirdly warm,” Dangelo said in reference to February. “It was the fourth warmest February ever, so that was the weird part … to have it warm like we had it was extremely rare.”

The meteorologist said Monday’s temperatures in the low 50s were at least 10 degrees higher than usually experienced this time of year.

Dangelo did note, however, that it isn’t unusual to experience a “springtime swing” with temperatures that skyrocket to summer-like warmth followed by a plummeting on the thermometer to below-freezing in a short period of time.

“It is still March … and there is still plenty of cold air waiting for us in Canada,” he remarked. “That cold air can come down on us …  and it looks like it will below normal at the end of this week and the weekend at least.”

Dangelo said February had much less snowfall during the month, but rainfall helped make up the difference in precipitation.

“Right now, the first significant patch of snow might come Thursday night or Friday,” he speculated.

Dangelo said that while the bureau’s hydrologist reports below-average snowfall, stream flows are average.

“I think we’ve gotten some pretty good rain, so the water table is pretty normal,” he continued.

“The water in the waterways themselves is pretty normal for this time of year and the soil moisture conditions are considered average.”

Dangelo said the hydrologist also reports that the Allegheny Reservoir conditions are average for this time of year.