While Edmontonians woke to up to yet another very cold March morning on Wednesday, warmer temperatures are headed to Alberta’s capital city.
As a result, the City of Edmonton has announced it plans to deactivate extreme cold weather protocols that have been in place since Feb. 25 on Friday.
In a news release, city officials said they plan to end the municipality’s extreme weather response at 9 a.m. on Friday.
The protocols are aimed at protecting those experiencing homelessness in Edmonton from the cold.
“The deactivation of the extreme weather response is being announced today to give individuals time to adjust their plans for accessing shelter,” city officials said.
City officials noted that the Edmonton Transit Service continues to operate a winter shelter shuttle service every night “on the north and south routes to help vulnerable Edmontonians find a warm, safe place to go each night.”
“This service continues to run daily from 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., regardless of weather conditions, until March 31,” they said. “However, the city’s additional overnight winter shelter shuttle service (west route) used during extreme weather activations will be suspended on the morning of Friday, March 8.”
If Edmontonians see someone outside in the cold that they are concerned about, the city asks that they call 911 “for someone in serious distress or in cases of emergency,” or 211 — “press 3 for 24/7 crisis diversion non-emergency support for shelter, intoxication and mental health.”