A temperature inversion is seen against the downtown Vancouver skyline in Burnaby, B.C., on Dec. 28, 2021. The province has broken a number of temperature records in recent days amid an Arctic cold snap.Andrew Chin/Getty Images
Extreme cold across Western Canada forced B.C. ferries to shut down a ship with frozen pipes and inoperable washrooms and sent snow-clearing workers home in Edmonton as wind chill pushed temperatures below -40 C.
After a year of record-smashing heat in parts of British Columbia, Environment Canada noted that there were 22 temperature records set in British Columbia on Boxing Day, with a provincial record low of -40.7 reached in Prince George. More teeth-chattering records were set in B.C. on Monday as most of the province remained blanketed by extreme cold Arctic outflow warnings.
Only six months earlier, Lytton hit the highest temperature in recorded history in Canada at 49.6. By the end of the year, British Columbia had recorded a high-low swing of 86 degrees.
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The cold put workers in city homeless shelters throughout Western Canada on high alert.
“It’s pretty dire out there,” said Scarlet Bjornson, with Edmonton’s Bissell Centre. “We are operating business as usual. We’re not able to open up additional spaces.”
Ms. Bjornson said people are “cold and frustrated and angry and sad – just like any of us stuck out in the cold for too long. It’s really hard on the person’s mental health not to be able to escape the cold.”
Ms. Bjornson is urging people to check on those on the street and in encampments. “If you see someone with frostbite or hypothermia, call 911.”
“Carry jackets and mittens with you in your car,” she adds, “and if you see someone not dressed properly it’s up to all of us to take care of our unhoused neighbours at this time.”
The city of Edmonton has stationed four “warming buses” outside city agencies so people don’t have to wait outside for shelter spaces to open up. Buses are shuttling folks to shelters when openings arise.
Tyrone Severight, a resident at the CRAB Park encampment in Vancouver, keeps warm in a communal space on Dec. 27, 2021.JENNIFER GAUTHIER/Reuters
In Vancouver, extra warming centres were opened, welcoming anyone without shelter to come inside along with their pets and carts. A spike in COVID-19 infections means everyone will have to wear masks that will be provided but proof of vaccination will not be required and gathering capacity limits imposed by the provincial health officer do not apply.
The city also noted that community centres, public libraries and other public buildings are available for shelter during opening hours for people who need to warm up.
The cold wreaked havoc with transportation-sector workers trying to ensure public safety.
The entire province of Alberta remains under an extreme cold warning, with wind-chill values pushing temperatures as low as -55 in parts of the province. It was so cold in Edmonton on Monday that the city paused non-essential snow clearing and pulled its crews off the road for their own safety.
“The current temperatures present a significant risk to our staff, equipment and contracted equipment,” the city tweeted.
On Tuesday, BC Ferries announced that it had cancelled a sailing on the Tsawwassen-Duke Point route “due to freezing weather conditions causing frozen water pipes, washroom closures, and unsafe conditions on the vehicle deck.”
Nol Halimi, operator with Astro Towing, pulls an abandoned car at Diefenbaker Park in Saskatoon on Dec. 28, 2021.The whole province of Saskatchewan is under an extreme cold warning.Liam Richards/Photo Liam Richards
B.C. set a record for peak electricity demand on BC Hydro’s system on Monday evening. Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), which operates the provincial power grid, announced that it was operating on reserve energy.
“You can help by turning off your holiday house lights early tonight,” the AESO suggested in a tweet.
The Arctic cold snap is forcing some ski hills to hit the pause button. Both Sun Peaks Ski Resort and Harper Mountain outside Kamloops have closed key lifts because of dangerously cold temperatures. Record low temperatures in Alberta have forced the complete closing of Rabbit Hill, the Edmonton Ski Club and Snow Valley.
Parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario are also under extreme cold weather warnings, with Environment Canada warning some regions to expect the breathtakingly cold temperatures to last to the new year.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article included an incorrect high temperature for Lytton.
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Nancy Macdonald