Although Bismarck-Mandan toyed with setting a record high Tuesday, don't put away your winter coat just yet.

An Arctic front is rumbling toward us, bringing frigid reality with it.

The low this morning should be around 8 degrees, and today's high should top out in the vicinity of 16, said Vic Jensen, of the National Service in Bismarck.

"It's come to an end," Jensen said of our three days of welcome warm temperatures that featured highs in the 40s.

Tuesday's high temperature in Bismarck peaked at 45 degrees early Tuesday afternoon, four degrees off the record high of 49, set in 2002, Jensen said. No other cities in North Dakota reported record highs, either, Jensen said.

Although things started cooling off Tuesday afternoon, Jensen doesn't expect the cold air to hang around the Bismarck-Mandan area for long.

Once we get through a single-digit low on Thursday morning, look for more moderate temperatures as we head toward the weekend. Jensen is predicting highs generally in the 20s or 30s and lows between 15 and 20 through the weekend.

"I hope we get up near 40 by the end of the week," he said.

That's because the wind will change directions, shifting from northerly to westerly, which "will bring some of that air that we just had," Jensen said.

(Reach reporter Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or outdoors@bismarcktribune.net.)