Ontario is shivering through a deep freeze with Environment Canada issuing an extreme cold warning for most of the province.
The weather agency says a cold front that passed through southern Ontario early Wednesday brought very cold temperatures and winds resulting in wind chill values near -30 C or lower.
In northern Ontario, the weather agency says the low temperatures combined with moderate winds has produced wind chills near or below -40 C but adds conditions are expected to improve Wednesday as temperatures rise.
An extreme cold weather alert has been issued in Toronto, where Mayor John Tory had asked the city manager to open two 24-hour drop-in warming centres late Tuesday due to concerns about vulnerable people following two deaths believed linked to the cold.
The city's medical officer of health issues the alerts when overnight temperatures are forecast to drop to -15 C or colder.
During extreme cold weather alerts, extra shelter spaces are made available and overnight street outreach is increased in the downtown core to get the homeless in from the cold.
Toronto's warming centres are not usually open on a 24-hour basis before the city issues its own cold weather alert but a spokesman for Tory said the mayor requested they be opened "immediately."
A spokeswoman for the city's chief medical officer of health said that given the deaths of two people in sub-zero temperatures during the past two days, an advisory was released Tuesday warning of an expected cold weather alert Wednesday morning.
Members of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty protested at Toronto's city hall Tuesday claiming there was a lack of shelter beds in the city, following the death of a man who was found without vital signs in a downtown Toronto bus shelter after a night of frigid temperatures.
In another incident on Monday, a homeless man was found dead inside a truck at a west-end Toronto shipping yard on a day when temperatures plunged and the wind chill made it feel colder than -21 C.
Environment Canada says anyone who isn't dressed warmly is at risk in cold weather conditions.
But it says homeless people, outdoor workers, seniors, infants and people with certain medical conditions are at greater risk than others for frost bite and hypothermia.
It advises people to dress in layers with a wind resistant outer layer and to bundle up in warm, dry clothing including socks, gloves, hats and scarves.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.