Colorado Springs experienced a case of weather whiplash over the weekend as an arctic air mass swept through the Pikes Peak region, interrupting what has been, for the most part, an unseasonably warm January.

The city saw frigid, single-digit temperatures and a steady cascade of light, dry snow throughout the weekend, making for slick, icy roads in some areas, according to Kathy Torgerson, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Pueblo.

“That’s pretty typical of these arctic air masses,” Torgerson said. “Light, dry snow, cold temperatures and freezing wind chills. But there was not a lot of snow accumulation in Colorado Springs.”

According to the weather agency, about 2 inches of snow accumulated throughout most of Colorado Springs, with some areas getting up to 4 inches.

The city saw below-zero overnight temperatures over the weekend, with some areas reporting wind chills as low as minus 15 degrees. But the drastic drop in temperatures may have caught some Colorado Springs residents off guard, Torgerson said.

“The rest of the winter has been so warm that it probably feels like we broke records,” she said. “But our record lows are actually lower than what we saw this weekend.”

Monday morning brought the coldest temperatures of the weekend with a low of minus 7 degrees, well short of the record low of 16 below zero set in 1902.

Most area colleges and school districts had a two-hour late start Monday.

“Winter dropped by for a little visit over the weekend,” Torgerson said. “But it’s going to warm up and dry out later in the week.”

Monday’s forecast was mostly sunny, with a high of 41 degrees, according to the weather agency. Temperatures are expected to gradually climb as the week progresses, reaching a high of 56 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s been an above-normal month, and this week we’re going to go back to that,” Torgerson said.