Vancouver opens additional warming centres and shelters ahead of cold snap
Warming centres and shelters across the Lower Mainland are preparing for what’s expected to be a bitterly cold weekend.
Nearly the entire province is under a special weather statement with temperatures expected to plummet.
On Friday, the City of Vancouver announced it would be opening more sites to help the unhoused escape from the blast of winter.
“The city of Vancouver takes it very seriously. Folks who are unhoused are the most vulnerable in our communities and neighborhoods and are most at risk of experiencing health-related complications due to extreme cold,” said Bruk Melles, director of homeless services for the City of Vancouver.
Vancouver has 1,200 shelter spaces, an additional 250 open during the winter, and another 88 welcoming people when temperatures are lower than zero degrees Celsius.
The city is also opening seven warming centres Friday night — with a capacity for 150 people. They’re not just on the Downtown Eastside, but also in Marpole, Mount Pleasant, and Fairview.
“Individuals can bring, depending on the site, bring their pets with them, or carts. Really, it's a place to be welcomed in, have some snacks, have some warm beverages. There's typically tables and chairs set up and there's blankets,” said Melles.
Extreme Weather Response Shelters
Directions Youth Services Centre
1138 Burrard Street
10 p.m. – 7 a.m.
Cascades Church
3833 Boundary Road
9:30 p.m. – 9 a.m.
Bud Osborn EWR
27 West Hastings Street
7 p.m. – 7 a.m.
The Salvation Army Belkin House
555 Homer Street
9 p.m. – 7 a.m.
Langara YMCA
282 West 49th Avenue
9:30 p.m. – 7 a.m.
Warming Centres
Powell Street Getaway
450 East Hastings Street
9 p.m. – 7:30 a.m.
Odd Fellows Hall
1433 West 8th Avenue
9:30 p.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Marpole Neighbourhood House
8585 Hudson Street
10 p.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Gathering Place
609 Helmecken
8:30 p.m. – 7:30 a.m.
Mount Pleasant Community Centre
1 Kingsway
10:00 p.m. – 6:30 a.m.
Overdose Prevention Society
141 East Hastings
11:00 p.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Aboriginal Front Door
390 Main St
11:00 p.m. – 7:00 a.m.
January has been mild on the South Coast with temperatures above seasonal. That is expected to change overnight Friday and into Saturday as arctic air arrives.
The mercury is expected to drop five to ten degrees below normal.
Temperatures will hover around zero degrees Celsius, lowering to minus six at night.
However, it will feel even colder with wind chill making frostbite a real danger.
“40 kilometer an hour wind sustained, really brings you quite close to minus 15, minus 20. That's when those Arctic outflow warnings can set up. We'll be issuing those when we can kind of see the whites of its eyes and make and making sure that it is in fact, likely,” said Armel Castellan, a Meteorologist for Environment Canada
The frigid temperatures are expected to persist into next week, so most shelters and warming centres will be open for another four or five days.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.