How to stay warm, prevent cold weather injuries during a Polar Vortex

Here's some helpful advice on how people can stay warm and prevent cold weather injuries during a Polar Vortex.

Environment Canada issues extreme cold warnings when the temperature or wind chill is expected to reach -40 C for at least two hours.

Tuesday is the third day in a row that northern Ontario has been under the warning, but climatologist David Phillips said it’s not just impacting the north.

“It’s a huge part of North America that is engulfed in this Arctic air,” said Phillips, of Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“We have this high-pressure area to the west over the Yukon in the northwest and this low-pressure area sitting over Quebec. And the way they move, it’s just like an avenue of cold air coming down from, really, Siberia.”

With no mountains to stop it, the stream comes over the North Pole and floods the entire central and eastern areas of North America, he said.

“It just flows like molasses on a tabletop, fills all the nooks and crannies,” Phillips said.

Northerners haven’t been acclimatized to this type of cold in the last couple of years.

Temperatures in the recent northern Ontario forecast are well below the normal highs of -8 C we expect to see this time of year.

“We’re talking about wind chill values across your viewing area of certainly -40 C and worse,” Phillips said.

“I mean, that is clearly, will freeze flesh in a matter of minutes. And so, farm animals, domestic pets … and human beings are going to be certainly affected by this, causing either frostbite or hypothermia.”

• Check the local weather forecast

Experts with Public Health Sudbury and Districts said while extreme cold puts everyone at risk in the community, certain people are at a greater risk and its important to understand your risk profile.

“For instance, older adults and babies under the age of one are more susceptible to the cold, as are people with circulatory issues,” said health promoter Jane Mantyla.

“And then some people are more at risk because of their exposure ... This includes people that are working or exercising outdoors, people that are experiencing homelessness and also people that might not have adequate heating in their homes.”

Mantyla adds that it’s important to check the forecast and plan activities accordingly when possible, rescheduling if need be.

“If you have to be outdoors, you can wear insulated, wind-resistant clothing and cover exposed skin,” she said.

“This means wearing mittens, a hat that covers your ears, a neck warmer or a scarf that can be brought up to cover your nose and cheeks.”

Other tips to stay warm include keeping your body moving to generate heat, finding shelter from the wind, drinking warm liquids and taking breaks indoors.

Gail Spencer is the coordinator of shelters and homelessness with the City of Greater Sudbury.

This is the first year the city has offered warming centres every night this winter at the Samaritan Center and Energy Court, she said.

“Both of those have been very well used this winter and, of course, are very important on nights when it’s really cold, like tonight,” Spencer said.

There are 89 emergency shelter beds across the city.

“And to be honest, over this weekend, we had some available shelter beds there, Spencer said.

“So, even though it has been cold, we still seem to have some capacity available at our lower-barrier shelters, which is great.”

The city has a contract with City Taxi to ensure people can access the beds available along with a partnership with the homelessness network.

“They operate their van overnight, all night on these cold nights, and they drive around and give people rides to, places where they can get warm,” Spencer said.

“They’ll drop people off at shelters, at our warming centers or even if they have a friend or family they could go stay with. They just make sure that people have transportation to get to places.”

Currently, there are approximately 200 people that are living outdoors in encampments in the community across 42 different locations.

“Those are the people that we’re most worried about and our outreach teams and client navigators go out and check on people a regularly to make sure they’re okay,” Spencer said.

In terms of when this cold snap will end, Phillips said he doesn’t see it being long and drawn out.

“When I look at the next two or three weeks, I see it kind of getting less cold as we see towards the weekend and then the middle of next week, I see a little bit coming back,” he said.

“This polar vortex ... it comes and then it retreats and then it comes again. So, I don’t think we should say that this is ‘OK, this is the worst we’re going to see.' I mean, I would hope it is, but you know, you can’t count on it.”