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Environment Canada has extended a cold warning for the Kingston and Belleville area by another two nights.
The wind chill Thursday night made it feel like –35 in Kingston and other parts of eastern Ontario.
While cold warnings have ended for the rest of the region, Kingston and Belleville will remain frigid through the weekend, with overnight temperatures Friday and Saturday feeling like –30 with the wind chill.
Kingston’s overnight low is –20 C Friday and –17 C Saturday. Overnight temperatures in Ottawa are similar, but the wind chill will be less severe.
Temperatures are expected to normalize by early next week.
How to protect yourself
Health Canada recommends that people dress in layers with a wind-resistant outer layer, protecting extremities such as your hands, feet, ears and nose and keeping moving to encourage blood flow.
It also recommends wearing sunglasses, sunscreen and lip balm on sunny days such as Saturday to protect skin from windburn. The agency also says not to drink alcohol because it can trick you into thinking you’re warmer than you are.
Community responses to these kinds of cold conditions vary by municipality or county. Many places encourage people to warm up in community spaces such as libraries in the day, and some cities like Belleville, Ont., and Cornwall, Ont., have opened dedicated overnight warming centres.
Kingston has extended a temporary warming centre at the Artillery Park Aquatics Centre on Bagot Street until Monday morning.
Other cities, including Ottawa, have asked people who’d normally sleep outside to go to an emergency or transitional shelter, which has drawn criticism.
The City of Ottawa also maintains a map of places where people can warm up during an extreme cold spell. Anyone who is seeking a shelter referral or who’s trying to get someone else out of the cold can call 311.
For medical emergencies like hypothermia, call 911.
