Historical records were shattered across southern Manitoba Thursday from Melita to Morden as temperatures topped 10 C.

Previous highs for Jan. 5 were nearly doubled, as most weather stations in the province have never recorded a day in early January warmer than 6 C.

The temperatures will probably represent the zenith of what has been a warmer than usual holiday season in the province.

While Manitobans may perceive the warmer than normal temperatures as highly unusual, a spell of balmy weather really isn’t that rare this time of year, said Mike Wroblewski, an agricultural meteorology specialist with Manitoba Agriculture.

“That’s one of the problems being human beings, our perception of time is really bad,” he said.

“Believe it or not, in 2007 we had a really warm Christmas time, too.”

Air temperatures in Manitoba and most of the Prairies often fluctuate between extreme warm and extreme cold throughout the winter, Wroblewski said. As a result, too much shouldn’t be read into this recent spell of above zero weather.

“You can’t even call this an anomaly because I’ve seen it so many times,” said Wroblewski, who has been monitoring weather patterns for 25 years.

“I think that’s the point, we’re so focused on the now.”

While cold weather is inevitable, it is possible that the remainder of the winter could be dry in Manitoba, he added.

In November and December, only 16 millimetres of precipitation fell on Winnipeg, compared to a normal for the two months of 44 mm. Consequently, fields across southeastern and central Manitoba are either bare or barely covered with a skiff of snow.

The dry trend could continue, Wroblewski said, because a La Niña has set up in the Pacific Ocean, which normally leads to less snowfall than usual on the Prairies.