The Polar Vortex, Siberian Express or whatever you want to call it is only a little more than 36 hours away.

Temperatures are forecast to plunge later Thursday night and all-day Friday.

Environment Canada Climatologist David Phillips says prior to that though, the forecast is calling for plenty of wind, rain and temperatures on the plus side of zero.

“Cold air is like molasses.  It’s thick and dense, it hugs the ground and fills all the nooks and crannies.  And boy, we’re going to see temperatures just dramatically change.  We might see on Thursday a high of -1 (degree Celsius), my gosh that’s nine degrees warmer than normal. By the next morning, on Friday morning, we could see -27.  So, what a drop.  That’s almost like 26 degrees in 24 hours.”

It has been one of the warmer January’s so far in recent memory and Phillips doesn’t expect this cold snap to be long lasting.  He believes the very cold temperatures will continue for about seven to ten days.