It’s all hands on deck as emergency services across central and southern
Saskatchewan dig in for an extreme cold snap. With weather like this, people’s lives are stake.
“The City of Saskatoon’s winter emergency response plan has been activated at level 2, which means daily situational reports, updates from partners. We’ve had constant contact amongst all the partners since February 2nd,” said Pamela Goulden-McLeod, Saskatoon’s EMO Coordinator.
In Regina, they’re following a similar protocol.
“The extreme weather strategy is currently active because there’s an extreme cold warning right now,” Lindsay Desrochers, the Community Inclusion Advisor for the City of Regina said.
This current situation isn’t expected to lift until the middle of next week and it’s thanks to La Nina, which is typically associated with cold and snowy conditions.
“We’re under the influence of a ridge of high pressure, so the bitterly cold arctic air [is] across the entire province, really. The -40 wind chills, they’re going to be around for quite some time now,” Danielle Desjardins with Environment and Climate change Canada says.
Northern Saskatchewan is not exempt from this blast of winter either, with temperatures around the same extreme, however their warning scale is higher.
“They have slightly different criteria than the south. It’s a -45 windchill,” Desjardins added.
When it’s this cold, cities and towns across the province come together.
“We provide a check-in and a, ‘how are things going,’ and then reach out any time where we might need something or might want to check on something with other partners.” Goulden-McLeod said.
Shelters in Regina and Saskatoon are busy with homeless numbers at high levels this year.
In Saskatoon the two main overnight warming spaces are keeping up to 80 people a night safe. Those numbers are being seen at both the men’s and women’s warming locations.
“It’s made a big difference. That ability to have two separate locations has been just so significant this winter.”
Both Saskatoon and Regina have a Safe Bus program. It’s where anyone needing to access warmth on a city bus can step out on a sidewalk in sight of a bus driver and indicate their need for help with a wave of their palm facing out. The bus will take them on board.
A cold snap is nothing new for Saskatchewan, but according to Environment Canada, what is new is what we’ve come to expect from winter.
“You know, we’ve seen winters recently where it’s been anomalously warm. This extreme stretch is not unique, but, you know, it’s kind of unusual in the sense that we haven’t seen this in a while,” Desjardins said.
The base temperatures right now are about 15 degrees colder than the average at this time of year which is -16 C at night in Saskatoon and -19 C in Regina. As for daytime; it’s -7 C and -8 C, respectively.
Both Goulden-McLeod and Desrochers say, the way community and the business community have come together to ensure at-risk people are safe during the winter is a new and welcomed addition to the strategy in both Regina and Saskatoon.
“A huge thanks to our community organizations that operate these spaces and that are taking care of community. They do such great work,” Desrochers said.
