Mother Nature has been so kind to the GTA the last few months, you may be surprised to find she has another side.

And she's about to reveal it in a big way this week.

After we endured our first major storm of the season, the real winter is coming back with a vengeance.

An Arctic system is rushing in, sweeping away the last vestiges of that warm weather we've been experiencing for the past few months. And starting Tuesday, it's going to be very cold with equally frigid wind chills.

Other areas of the country - especially the prairies - have been experiencing conditions near -35C or colder. And now that's moving here.

Things are expected to be so bad, the city has already declared a cold weather emergency for Toronto. They're invoked whenever the temperature is expected to dip below -15C without the wind chill.

The move is made to protect the homeless, who can face severe hazards in the extreme cold. At least 80 additional shelter beds are activated and warming centres are also opened to allow those stranded outside to escape the bone chilling deep freeze.

"We never turn away nobody. We never turn them away," assured R owena Hill, of the C hristie Ossington neighbourhood centre.  "It gets really busy. Our maximum is 45 beds. We usually get filled so easy."

Elaine Smyer, who works for T oronto Emergency Planning, spent a busy Monday night making sure every one was safe on the frigid streets.

"There are 80 spaces added to the current shelter system. We also have emergency outreach services that go out overnight to make contact with people living on the street. Let them know that there's extreme cold weather and help them with transportation to shelters."

Homeless artist R obert Lacquaniti takes advantage of the services when the temperature drops.

"I'm grateful for places like this, it's a good place to be to be stay warm and place to sleep."

If you see anyone suffering from the coming cold, call the Street Helpline anytime at 1-866-392-3777. It's free from anywhere, including a payphone.

For more info you can also check out http://www.toronto.ca/housing

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