SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Though we did have a cold start to the month, especially East River, temperatures have surged well above average for this time of year as of late.

Our average high is usually on either side of 30 degrees across portions of KELOLAND, but lately, we’ve seen that for overnight lows rather than daytime highs. As we head deeper into February, I don’t see this warmer trend breaking any time soon. That’s not to say we can’t cool down now and again.

Through the first week of the month, we’ve had a nearly equal share of colder and warmer weather. The first through the fourth was colder, but once we reached the fifth that’s when everything changed. These temperatures were warm enough to skew our average for the first week above what we typically see for this time of year.

We’ve been able to tap into a wealth of warmth to our northwest, and there’s nothing stopping that through Friday. We do get a brief cooldown on Saturday with the passage of a cold front, but it’s quickly replaced with another round of warmer temperatures.

For what it’s worth, Valentine’s Day looks like it should be warmer than average…a lot better than what we had last year, which was a high of nine degrees below zero.