BEMIDJI -- The next couple days will be an endurance test for those in the northland as an arctic blast brings the coldest temperatures seen in years to the area.

With phrases such as “brutally cold” and “rarely seen,” the National Weather Service predicts the cold system will arrive late Monday, and then continue into Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We’re hardy northerners, and we’re used to the cold and things like that, but it’s still dangerous if you’re caught outside and not prepared” said Amanda Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Grand Forks.

The Bemidji area is expected to see a high of no more than 22 below zero on Tuesday. The wind chill for Tuesday is expected to be as low as 54 below zero.

A slew of area schools have closed due to the extreme weather. Bemidji, Blackduck and Bagley schools will be closed Tuesday. Red Lake and Cass Lake-Bena will be closed both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Early Monday evening, officials at Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College also announced they were canceling classes for Tuesday.

The weather also has caused at least a handful of local organizations to either close or shift hours. The Senior Activity Center announced it will be closed both Tuesday and Wednesday. Additionally, LSS Senior Nutrition and Meals on Wheels will be closed for those days as well.

The Beltrami County Demolition Landfill will be closed Tuesday through Thursday.

The coldest period within the advisory will come Tuesday night. The temperature is expected to fall to 36 below zero with a wind chill that could hit 62 below zero.

Frostbite at those extreme temperatures could happen in less than 5 minutes, the weather service warned.

Despite the intense cold midweek, the temperature should bounce back above zero by the end of the week. Friday is expected to have a high of 11, a virtual heat wave for a region just coming out of the dark days of January’s coldest temperatures.

In fact, this week will be the coldest in more than a decade. Lee said the last time the greater Grand Forks/northern Minnesota region had such extreme weather was in 2004 when it hit lows of 35 below zero in Grand Forks.

She added, however, that there was not much wind at that time in 2004. Because of that, the extreme wind chills expected this week could push the overall severity of the weather beyond what it was 15 years ago.

“This period of brutally cold weather will be historic and is being compared to a cold weather outbreak in January of 2014 and another outbreak in February 1996,” the weather service said in a advisement Monday.

Other areas of the state also expect drastic temperatures. International Falls, often called the “Icebox of the Nation” could see temperatures as low as 36 below zero Tuesday night with wind chills between 50 and 60 below.

The Twin Cities metro area also is in line for the cold. Minneapolis is expected to get a temperature of 30 below on Tuesday night, coupled with a wind chill factor of 53 below.

“There’s no sugarcoating it, the weather will get extremely cold next week,” the weather service’s Twin Cities office tweeted Thursday.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Monday that his administration is deferring to local decisions about whether to cancel school, as the region girds for extreme cold and wind chills that forecasters expect will exceed 50 below zero in many areas early Wednesday.

“No matter how resilient the people of Minnesota may be, this weather should be taken seriously,” Walz said in a statement. “Parents and students should pay close attention to the local news and messages from their local school district for information on school closures. All Minnesotans should make plans to stay safe.”

Nor is the cold limited to the many Minnesotans who normally pride themselves on being able to withstand any winter weather situation. The Washington Post reported that some 87 million people in the Midwest and Great Lakes region could see temperatures below zero as a result of the same weather pattern.

With the end of January in sight, the cold, harsh weather this week could be the end of the worst temperatures the winter has to offer. Then again, it may not be.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed that this will be the last big cold push, but we’ll see how it plays out,” Lee said.