Extreme winter weather impacting mail delivery in Canada. What to know

As an extreme cold snap continues to bite across the country, some Canadians might experience delays in sending or receiving their mail.

Canada Post suspended all delivery services for Huntsville, Ont. on Thursday due to inclement weather, snow and freezing rain.

Deliveries were also halted Wednesday for Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island in British Columbia as well as Corner Brook in Newfoundland due to inclement weather, snow and freezing rain.

Red service alerts remained active in those locations, as of 11 a.m. ET Thursday. That means mail won’t get delivered for the day and delivery agents won’t be sent out on the road or will be asked to return.

Meanwhile, Canada Post has also issued yellow alerts for northern and southern Alberta, southern B.C., Owen Sound, Ont. as well as Deer Lake and Stephenville in N.L. due to the difficult weather conditions.

In those areas, there could be delivery delays, but the national courier service says it is doing its best to deliver.

“Delivery will resume once conditions improve and it’s safe to do so,” the Crown corporation said. “The safety of our employees is our number one priority.”

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Canada Post has been using the yellow and red service alerts since 2014.

Mail carriers are briefed daily about the weather conditions and risks they may face throughout the course of the day, said Janick Cormier, of Canada Post media relations.

“Although our employees do their best to deliver in difficult weather conditions, there are many safety risks in winter that affect everyone,” Cormier said in an emailed statement. “We encourage people to clear snow and ice from their homes, stairways and driveways so that delivery staff, and anyone else, can safely access the front door when the service resumes.”

Customers can report any issue with community mailboxes, like a frozen lock or snow obstructing access, by going on canadapost.com.

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Meanwhile, the frigid cold is also likely impacting some FedEx shipments in Canada.

“As we continue to closely monitor severe winter weather, we have implemented contingency plans to help keep our team members safe and lessen impact on service,” James Anderson, communication advisor at FedEx Express Canada said.

The current extreme cold wave that has brought heavy snowfall, freezing rain and strong winds is expected to continue into the weekend in parts of the country, but there could be some relief next week, meteorologists say.