It's going to be a rather nasty 24-36 hours but in the grand scheme of things, it's just a blip on the radar ahead of a warming trend.

A fast-moving cold snap is bearing down on us and we could see wind chill factors closer to -40 degrees by Wednesday afternoon and evening. Flurries and blowing snow are also part of the system that could make its first appearance late Wednesday morning and then really ramp up in the afternoon, causing temperatures to drop rapidly.

As extreme as the system will be, Environment Canada's Terri Lang says a warm-up is expected for the weekend, thanks to a system brewing in British Columbia.

"It's what we call a Mackenzie Screamer, meaning that it forms in the Mackenzie Valley and then it screams or rushes across," explained Lang. "It's like an Alberta Clipper but it comes from the Mackenzie Valley and we tend to see quite mild conditions ahead of that."

Things will start improving Thursday leading to a chance of showers this weekend with a high of +3.