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A car brakes going downhill on Line 7 Innisfil, Ont., on Jan. 15. Orange weather alerts have been issued for all of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as most of northern Ontario.Christopher Drost/The Canadian Press
A baleful front of face-freezing Arctic air delivered a winter wallop across Canada’s midsection Friday, making it too cold to ski in parts of Manitoba and sending agencies rallying to keep the homeless warm.
The Windsor Park Nordic Centre in Winnipeg advised cross-country skiers that its trails would be closed through the weekend.
“It’s extremely cold and we don’t expect a lot of people to be out skiing,” said Karin McSherry, executive director of the Cross-Country Ski Association of Manitoba, which oversees the centre.
“It just doesn’t make sense to staff the facility for the next few days while this extreme cold has descended upon us.”
The centre is scheduled to stay open for clubs doing programming but will remain closed to the public.
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McSherry said it’s not unusual for the centre to close early or for the day due to weather, but shutting down for an entire weekend is surprising.
“At the end of the day, it does come down to safety,” she said.
From New Brunswick through to Alberta, residents were hunkering down to wait out the bone-chilling cold snap, with some regions expected to reach lows of -50 C with the wind chill.
Environment Canada issued orange weather alerts for all of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as most of northern Ontario, warning that severe conditions were likely to cause significant damage, disruption or affect health.
In Manitoba, many rural schools were closed as the temperature dipped below -30 C and the wind chill registered below -40 C.
Non-profit agencies that help unhoused people also sprung into action.
Main Street Project in Winnipeg saw a spike in demand at its 120-bed overnight shelter, daytime emergency shelter and two outreach vans that visit encampments and other places where unhoused people may be.
“When it’s cold like this, we fill up really quickly (at the shelter), so that means spots will be going a lot faster,” said director of development Cindy Titus.
At the nearby Siloam Mission, winter means opening a 24-hour warming centre in addition to its year-round overnight shelter. “We welcome folks who are unhoused, we put a hot beverage in their hand, we get them a sandwich and a place to sit,” said senior development manager Margot Ross.
“Our volunteer foot-care nurses will check for frostbite or hypothermia. We do a lot of triage.”
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In Regina, schools were shuttered and the city made a warming bus that travels between shelters available until Monday.
Travis Lumberjack with Carmichael Outreach said more homeless people in the provincial capital were seeking out nightly shelters and warming spaces.
Lumberjack said there are few options. “Not many places are open for members of the public to access, even for something as simple as a water or that extra layer that they seek to help combat these harsher conditions,” he said.
The Salvation Army in Saskatoon added eight more beds to its men’s shelter, now at 92, to prepare for rising need. Over at its separate winter overnight warming shelter, there have been 110 to 120 people each night on average, below its capacity of 150.
“We haven’t reached that point of getting to over 150 people, but I don’t know, we will see what happens this weekend. It’s super cold,” said Roger Yenkins, director of housing services.
In Toronto, extra outreach teams were dispatched to encourage people to seek shelter indoors. North of the city on Highway 11, Ontario Provincial Police say motorists who were stranded after a crash involving between 20 and 30 vehicles were transported to a warming shelter.
The cold was also taking its toll on travel plans and social events.
Alejandro Flores of Toronto said he hoped the storm didn’t blow out the candles on a planned birthday party for about 20 people.
“I don’t know if we’re going to have to cancel or not,” said Flores. “Luckily my friends live around the area, so that way they hopefully can attend.
In Montreal, police, firefighters and community groups scrambled to check on those who are unhoused and help them as needed.
Once the weekend hits, all of New Brunswick is expected to see temperatures between -30 C and -37 C, with the coldest temperatures expected in the northwestern part of the province.
Meteorologist Danielle Desjardins with Environment Canada said the wintry misery is due to Arctic air from a wide cold front driven by a ridge of high pressure that is proving to be particularly stubborn.
“Sometimes (with) Arctic air masses that, it kind of warms up a little bit during the day and we get a little bit of reprieve. But this ridge of high pressure is quite strong and it is quite large,” Desjardins said.
She said eye-popping, eyelash-freezing records were set or on their way to being set in numerous locations.
In Uranium City, Sask., the temperature was -38 C Friday morning.
On Thursday, three communities in Saskatchewan broke cold records, with Lucky Lake going down to a very unlucky -36.5 C.
The good news? Desjardins said the cold is expected to begin letting up Sunday.
Editor’s note: The headline has been corrected to state that the outside temperature in parts of Canada will feel like -50 C with the wind chill.
