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The next stretch of extreme cold weather is arriving, with a polar vortex delivering chilling temperatures across central Canada and the Prairies early this week.

Freezing, dense Arctic air will hit Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba with much-colder-than-normal temperatures, Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said.

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“This will stay right through the work week,” said Coulson. “We may get a bit of a break for the weekend, but unfortunately the longer-term forecast for next week and into the first part of February is for an overall trend of colder-than-normal temperatures, right through the Great Lakes basin.”

According to Coulson, the polar vortex is a circulation that occurs all year over the North Pole. Every once in a while that circulation can weaken, allowing cold air to come down through to the lower latitudes.

“So, this is another case where we’re looking at a flow coming down from the far north again. At this point in time the depth of cold is perhaps not as cold as what we saw earlier, but it does look like again it has a potential to bring those temperatures all the way down into the Southeastern U.S.”