Recently we have gone through some rather uncompromising temperature swings. Saturday afternoon, it was 55 degrees in Fargo Moorhead.Two days later, afternoon temperatures Monday were near 10. The average high temperature during this period is 27 degrees, so the cold and windy day Monday was much closer to average than the 55 degree reading two days before. A temperature swing from 35 to zero would have been more typical of the season but our lack of snow cover added about ten to 20 degrees to the range. People jogging in shorts Saturday wore several warming layers Monday. Such temperature swings are common in the Great Plains where there are few barriers to air blowing in from vastly different regions. The energy required to melt snow is the greatest barrier to warming we have. But without snow cover, we can expect more wide swings and more unseasonably warm days like last Saturday.