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The City of Edmonton will be activating its extreme weather response Monday to help its vulnerable population, while Environment Canada is issuing an alert for cold weather.
Edmonton is seeing the mercury drop significantly in the coming days. Monday night will drop to -15 Celsius overnight.
Daytime highs are expected to drop as the week goes on reaching -20 C by Friday, and snow is also expected for Saturday.
The city’s cold weather plan includes three bus routes that will run from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. every night to transport people to shelters with capacity.
Fifty temporary shelter spaces will open Monday night at the city-funded Al Rashid Mosque in north Edmonton. The Bissell Centre and Boyle Street Community Centre are extending their daytime hours of operation.
The extreme weather response is activated when temperatures will be colder than -20 C with wind chill for at least three consecutive nights.
The response is expected to last until January 8 at 9 a.m.