Here's what you need to know about the snow and lengthy deep freeze this week

The snow falls on Tuesday and then temperatures REALLY start to fall after that.

The mild start to winter is over, and we’re on the verge of a long stretch of frigid temperatures and wind chills that could last right through to next week.

Snow is expected to start falling early Tuesday morning, and will impact the morning commute in Edmonton and surrounding areas.

Most of the accumulation should be done by early afternoon, but light snow is likely to continue into Tuesday evening. All told, we’re looking at roughly 3 to 8 cm of snowfall (potentially a bit more in some parts of the region). Most of the snow we’ve had so far this winter was 'leaf blower snow,' but this will be a 'shovellable snow' event.

Temperatures through Tuesday will be in the minus teens, but a 10-15 km/h wind will create wind chills in the -20 C to -25 C range for most of the day.

There will be cloudy skies and the possibility of a dusting of light snow on Wednesday, but the bigger issue will be the cold.

Temperature will be steady near -20 C throughout the day, with a wind chill closer to -30 C (wind speeds of 10-20 km/h).

By Thursday, the arctic air really starts to settle in. Temperatures will be near -30 C in the morning (wind chill near -40) and the afternoon high around -26 C will FEEL more like the mid -30s C with wind chill.

Friday and Saturday are likely to be the coldest days with mornings in the mid -30s C (closer to -40 C outside the city) and afternoon highs near -30 C. Thankfully, the wind looks fairly calm for Friday-Saturday, and we’ll see some sunshine.

So ... when does it end? Well, we may not get back above -10 C until the end of next week (Jan 19 or 20).

It’ll be likely that we’ll get out of the coldest air by early next week, but it’s going to remain colder than average for at least the next 10 days in Edmonton and area.