COLD WEATHER NEED-TO-KNOW

With temperatures plunging and wind chill biting, the city and Environment Canada urge residents to:

Cover up outside, because frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin;

Call the Salvation Army if you are concerned about someone on the street at 905-527-1444 ext. 0. A city community response group works to ensure no one in need of shelter is turned away;

Visit municipal warming stations if needed and call 905-546-2424 ext. 8035 if you have questions about the city’s community cold alert response. (Online, visit hamilton.ca/cold for a map of places to warm up.)

Check on neighbours, family and friends to ensure they have adequate heat; Keep pets inside; Be patient with recycling pickup. Cold weather has slowed collection this week — and in some cases even caused mechanical difficulties for trucks. If your blue boxes aren’t emptied on your normal pickup day, keep them at the curb and the city will get them Saturday or Sunday.

The Salvation Army’s soup van makes three stops every night between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Contact: 905-527-1444;

Carole Anne’s Place, which is run out of 75 MacNab St. S., offers overflow space for homeless women when single women’s shelters are full. It started Dec. 1 and runs until the end of March. Contact: 905-522-9922, ext. 112.

BARRY GRAY, THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Hamiltonians bundled up against the cold as Arctic air continued to blanket much of the country Friday.