The weather from Friday into Saturday in the Twin Cities metro was “just a complete 180,” said Afton Alps line cook and snowmaker Connor Cilley.

He would know. On Saturday, he was working at the ski area, and 24 hours prior, he worked a shift at a local golf course.

“We’re getting ready, taking covers off the greens and kind of getting everything set in motion to open up,” he said.

Some golf courses opened last month. Timber Creek Golf Course told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS it opened earlier than ever this season in late February.

Fast forward to Friday, and it was shorts and T-shirts across the metro as people soaked up the spring warmth.

“It was pretty interesting, because the previous days we were kind of bundled up, layered up in the morning, but once we got there, it was 50 degrees in the morning, and kind of wearing shorts right away in the morning. And it was pretty interesting. So you don’t really wear shorts in March,” Cilley said.

Even at Afton Alps on Friday, “You’d see people in Hawaiian shorts. You’d see them in their board shorts,” said senior manager for skier services Justin Folger.

“I don’t know that we saw any true bathing suits, but yeah, definitely different attire than you might have seen in the depth of winter in January… It’s kind of fun, right? Like, felt like summer, but you’re doing a winter activity.”

Twenty-four hours later, on Saturday, drizzling rain was turning to drizzling snow as skiers hit the hills.

“A little more grey today,” Folger remarked.

Aside from temperature fluctuations like this week, he said it’s been consistently cold enough to keep the hills open all season.

“Like I said, we had just great snowmaking conditions, so able to stay open every day that we had this year,” Folger said.

“We’re just excited that we’re here, and we’ve got folks skiing, so yeah, come on out. And we’ll look forward to seeing people next weekend.”

The ski season was winding down. The final day for Afton Alps is next Sunday, March 23.