The City of Toronto remains under an extreme cold weather alert, with temperatures expected to hover around the -15 C mark for most of the day.
Early Tuesday morning, the temperature was as low as -21 C in some areas, and felt more like -29 C with the wind chill. Environment Canada forecasts the temperature will reach a high of -10 C, but will feel like -13 C with the wind.
The national weather agency predicts that the temperature will dip back down to -12 C on Tuesday evening (-15 C with the wind chill).
The City of Toronto calls extreme cold weather alerts when temperatures dip below -15 C. Alerts are also put in place when factors such as wind chill and precipitation increase the impact of cold weather on health.
During an extreme cold weather alert, residents are asked to check in on those who are especially vulnerable, including the elderly and the homeless. During the alert, two 24-hour drop-in centres are open and additional shelter beds are made available. Shelters are instructed to relax all service restrictions, and transit tokens are available at drop-ins so the homeless can reach shelters.
Environment Canada issued its own alert on Tuesday morning, covering much of southern Ontario with an extreme cold alert.
Environment Canada warned that some are particularly vulnerable to frostbite and hypothermia, including the homeless, elderly, people with certain medical conditions and infants.
The following areas are under Environment Canada's weather alert:
- Barrie-Orillia-Midland
- Belleville-Quinte-Northumberland
- Dufferin-Innisfil
- Halton-Peel
- Hamilton
- Huron-Perth
- Kingston-Prince Edward
- Listowel-Milverton
- London-Middlesex
- Napanee-Consecon
- Oxford-Brant
- Peterborough-Kawartha Lakes
- Stirling-Tweed-South Frontenac
- Stratford-Mitchell
- Waterloo-Wellington
- York-Durham
