'Nope, not doing it today:' Albertans continue to navigate through vicious cold snap

LETHBRIDGE, Alta -

As Alberta’s cold snap continues to cause challenges, residents in the southern part of the province try to deal with the implications.

With temperatures continuing to dip, the number of those in need of furnace repairs has ramped up.

“Unfortunately, even with Christmas time, when the cold comes in furnaces stop,” said Richard Altvater, owner of Four Seasons Home Comfort.

“Our one on-call tech guy has been productively working almost non-stop, 24 hours, so we've called in extra techs to try and help him out, extra staff to try and at least get the calls on the board, and try to get customers back up and running with at least some heat.”

Despite his crew working around the clock, Altvater says those in need of furnace repairs who don't have an alternative source of heat such as a fireplace could be looking at delays.

“We're trying to keep everything within one or two days. The big ones for us that are a priority are people that don't have extra heat.”

DOG DAZE

Those with dogs know all to well that their furry friends need exercise, but the frigid conditions has made it a difficult to manage outdoors for long periods of time.

“I'm not going to lie, we skipped a few days,” said dog owner Jodene Moradel.

“Normally we're avid dog walkers every day, but some of the days we looked at the weather and we're like 'nope not doing it today.”

Moradel mentioned that her dogs get antsy when they’re stuck inside for too long, so she has no choice but to brace herself and her dogs.

For pet owners living on the streets, they now have the option to surrender their pet for up to 30 days to the city's animal services shelter, where the animals receive food, water and the care they need.

“The program is kind of only there for those extreme hot and extreme cold time periods, where someone who is not able to find suitable shelter for themselves obviously isn't going to be able to provide suitable shelter for their pets,” said animal control officer Skylar Plourde.

“So, it is something that again is sort of meant to be temporary and for those extreme circumstances and right now with this weather that we're seeing, obviously that is an extreme.”

Plourde added that the program has yet to receive any applications at this time, but with the plummeting temperatures, he expects that could change.

The good news for those in southern Alberta is some much more favourable temperatures are on their way in time for the weekend, but don’t get too excited, because the cold conditions are forecast to return by early next week.