It’s a little late in the season, but Toronto is finally plunging into the deep freeze.

After temperatures dropped steadily on Monday due to a cold Arctic wind, Tuesday’s mercury is projected to stay well below its typical level. The forecasted high for Toronto is -12 C, but the wind chill will make it feel more like -27 C.

“That’s brutally cold,” said David Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada. “That will freeze flesh in a few minutes.”

The City of Toronto issued an extreme cold weather alert on Monday as the temperature began to drop early in the afternoon. The alert, in effect until further notice, is to ensure homeless people have warm places to go to escape frigid temperatures.

The alert means shelters relax service restrictions and some drop-in locations supply TTC tokens so people have transportation to shelters. In addition, 172 shelter spaces are added across the city. At least one of the shelters providing extra cots was already full as of early Monday evening.

An extreme cold weather alert is called when Environment Canada predicts a temperature of -15 C or lower, issues a wind-chill warning or predicts extreme weather conditions such as a blizzard.

Environment Canada also issued a special weather statement on Monday for much of southern Ontario warning of heavy flurries, gusty winds and blowing snow.

Environment Canada warned that gusty winds may whip up the snow and cause sudden low visibility for motorists. The federal agency also warned of winds of up to 60 kilometres per hour for most regions, with some areas of Ontario seeing as much as 15 centimetres of snow.

Snow squall watches took hold Monday for a large part of southwestern Ontario. Some places north of Toronto, such as Barrie, witnessed snow squalls Monday which substantially reduced visibility on area roads.

The sudden cold is a change from the warmer-than-usual temperatures the city saw through most of December.

It’s also a different story out West, where the Prairies are seeing temperatures well above normal. In Calgary, temperatures are predicted to reach as high as 13 C on Wednesday.

But the cold in the GTA will be short-lived: temperatures in Toronto are expected to rise to around freezing on Wednesday and 5C by the end of the week. There’s even a chance of rain on Saturday.

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“It’s literally a one-day wonder,” Phillips said. “Nature can’t figure out what it wants to give us.”

If you see someone you think requires street outreach assistance, call 311. If it’s an emergency, dial 911.

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