NEGAUNEE – Brace yourselves. It’s going to get colder.

Mike Dutter, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Marquette, said the Upper Peninsula is going to experience the coldest temperatures it has experienced since 1996.

“Sunday is going to be the start of it with temperatures plummeting below zero across much of the area,” he said. “And then, by Monday, that’s when most of the polar vortexes are overhead and temperatures are expected to only rise to minus-5 to minus-15. Those are for highs on Monday.”

Dutter said windchill’s Monday morning could be as low as minus-45 degrees.

That’s not all. Northern parts of the U.P. are expected to get lake effects snows that could cause whiteouts throughout the area.

“Even though the lake effect snows won’t be terribly heavy the main hazards will be whiteout conditions due to the blowing of the fine snowflakes across the snowbound areas. The combination of the cold air and possible whiteout conditions will create very dangerous conditions if stranded outdoors,” Dutter said.

The warning was issued on the agency’s Facebook page.

Dutter suggested that if you will be traveling in U.P. from Sunday through Tuesday to have a winter survival kit in your vehicle in case you become stranded.