Extreme cold warnings issued for Eastern Canada

HALIFAX — As an immense arctic air mass expanded over the eastern half of the country on Friday, Environment Canada issued an unusually long list of extreme cold warnings that covered six provinces — from Ontario to Newfoundland and Labrador.

In scores of cities and towns, government and private agencies scrambled to provide shelter for vulnerable people as the wind was expected to make the temperature feel like –40 C to –50 C in many areas.

“These temperatures are certainly the coldest that I can remember,” said Geoffrey Downey, spokesman for New Brunswick’s Emergency Measures Organization. “They’re calling for –43 C to –47 C across the province with the wind chill. That just creates all kinds of problems.”

Downey said he had one message for the public: “Stay home. No one should be outside.”

In Quebec City, where the temperature was expected to drop to –27 C Friday afternoon with a wind chill index of –45, it was too cold for the Quebec Winter Carnival. Organizers announced Thursday that the opening of the annual celebration, set for Friday, would be postponed until Saturday.

Meanwhile, Hydro-Quebec issued a list of tips to help reduce the demand for electricity, which the utility said could exceed historic highs.

“Across the province, extremely low temperatures will put buildings’ capacity to retain heat to the test,” the utility said, adding that residents and businesses should turn down the heat by one or two degrees, use less hot water and reduce the use of major appliances.

In Ontario, the extreme cold that gripped the northern half of the province through the week had reached the south by Friday. Environment Canada said wind chill indexes could read –30 C in the Greater Toronto Area, while in Ottawa it could feel closer to –40 C. Around Hudson Bay, the forecast called for a wind chill of –50.

In Nova Scotia, Environment Canada meteorologist Ian Hubbard said residents in Halifax should brace for icy gusts that will make it feel like –43 C.

“Some of these values are actually going to be coming close to some of the all-time wind chills we’ve seen,” Hubbard said in an interview from Dartmouth, N.S. “Some people may never have experienced wind chills this cold before.”

Residents of Prince Edward Island were also being warned about bitterly cold conditions, with the wind making it feel as cold –41 C overnight – and Hubbard said wind chill values will be even lower in New Brunswick, where it could feel like –45 C.

In these conditions, frostbite can develop in minutes on exposed skin, which has set off alarm bells for those who offer services to people without housing.

Rev. Kyle Wagner at Christ Church in downtown Dartmouth said the men’s shelter has been packed in recent weeks, which is why plans are in the works to make more room for those who don’t normally come inside.

“We’re already at capacity most nights,” Wagner said.