Forget going out this weekend — stay home, stay warm and tell your friends you’ll catch up after the wicked cold spell is over.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Toronto calling for “bitterly cold” temperatures this weekend along with some snow as a winter storm descends down the Great Lakes.

“Winter has begun,” said David Rodgers, a meteorologist at Environment Canada. “These are certainly the coldest days of winter — the temperature’s not going to warm up much.”

While it will feel pretty warm coming into Friday, don’t be fooled. The cold will slap later in the night. Environment Canada is forecasting temperatures to sit at 2 C during the daytime and drop to -13 C overnight.

The agency said there’s a 30 per cent chance of flurries in the afternoon but what Torontonians should really watch out for is the wind chill in the night. With northeast winds coming in at 20 km/h, it will likely feel like -22 C with wind chill.

Saturday morning will see billows of snow while the temperature hovers around a chilly -11 C. Rodgers said since Toronto is only catching the “northern fringe” of the storm, we’ll see about 5 to 10 cm. of snow.

“We’ll definitely get the cold air coming down from Northern Ontario and pretty strong winds as well,” he said, adding that people will want to cover their faces this weekend. “If you need to walk into the north wind, you’re going to find it pretty uncomfortable.”

Sunday will be the coldest night this weekend. Environment Canada is forecasting temperatures to drop down to -21 C overnight. That’s really, really cold.

Rodgers said while the agency hasn’t issued one yet, Sunday night could possibly see an extreme cold weather alert with the way things are looking. Environment Canada issues those when the weather hits -30 C with wind chill for at least two hours.

“I think you might just want to stay in on Sunday,” he said.

Things likely won’t be warming up by the time weekend ends. Expect a really chilly commute Monday morning. The temperature is forecast to still be in the lows of -14 C by Monday morning.

“On Monday you’ve got to brave it,” said Rodgers, “That’s probably when most people are going to feel the bite of this cold.”

If you feel like these wacky cold temperatures came out of nowhere, you’re wrong, says Rodgers.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“This is completely normal, to have a cold snap like this mid-January.”

That said, this might be one of those times when binge-watching your way through the weekend isn’t the worst thing. What else can you really do?

Premila D’Sa is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @premila_dsa

Read more about: