A woman bundled up against the icy cold in Toronto Wednesday passes a store displaying beach balls on the sidewalk. (Robin Rowland/CBC)

People in the GTA are getting a taste of what's its like to live in Canada's north, instead of the balmy south.

Temperatures in Toronto have dipped to –20 C, with wind chills making it feel almost –30 C. Overnight those temperatures are set to go a lot lower before bouncing back on the weekend.

"[Thursday] is going to be the coldest day of the week," said CBC meteorologist Nick Czernkovich. "It won't be until the weekend until we're back into the minus single digits, –6 C, –7 C."

On Thursday the mercury is expected to stay in the –20s, with the winds making it feel much colder.

By comparison, the high in Yellowknife on Thursday will be –13 C, according to Environment Canada.

Czernkovich also said that although some snow is expected during the cold snap, it likely won't amount to much.

"You know when you get really cold temperatures there's not a lot of moisture in the air, so any systems that do come through usually don't hold that much in the way of snowfall," he said.

Most public transit systems were reporting normal service on Wednesday. But GO Transit had numerous train delays and a few cancellations because of signal problems caused by the cold weather.

For those who have to work outside in freezing temperatures the advice is clear: dress in layers.

"Tons of layers," said construction worker Matt Maslen heading to his job in downtown Toronto on Wednesday morning.

"I can barely move. From long johns, to T-shirts, to sweatshirts, sweatpants, long johns, yup, everything."

Foreman Tony Cunha, who has been through 30 winters working on construction in Toronto, said that after all this time he's used to it. He tells his workers to take lots of breaks and go inside once an hour.

"I tell them, go in for 10 or 15 minutes, warm up and especially young kids, you know you got to look after them. The older guys, they know how to skip a little bit here, a little bit there, go warm up. You don't have to tell the older guys that," he said.

Cunha said he keeps himself cheered by thinking that spring is just around the corner.

The City of Toronto has declared an extreme cold alert which goes into effect when the temperature drops below –15 C. During an alert the city provides extra services aimed at getting the homeless out of the cold.

There is also a wind chill warning for eastern Ontario which could make it feel as cold as –35.

Northwestern Ontario is continuing to suffer from bitter cold as well, with the wind chill making it feel like –40 to –45.