Very cold today, but still not quite enough to open. Hoping for tomorrow.

Today's combination of rain, wind and low temps made for very miserable weather.  I was out in it for a few hours today -- running errands on my bike and walking -- and it definitely felt bitterly cold, but unfortunately, to declare an Extreme Weather Alert we can't rely on how cold it feels, we have to base it on information available from weather agencies.  We mainly use three sources: Environment Canada, the Weather Network (localized for Richmond) and a private forecasting service the city has under contract for the winter that provides us with a customized forecast for Richmond daily.  None are predicting temperatures to go below freezing tonight, so we're not opening.


While I was out doing my errands, I bumped into a couple men near one of the bottle depots who have stayed at the shelter and I told them we wouldn't be open tonight, but possibly tomorrow. One had lost the gloves we'd given him a couple weeks ago, so I went over to St Alban to get him another pair and brought back a bag full of gloves, scarves, toques in case I ran into more people who could use them. Sure enough, when I returned, there were two women hanging around outside the depot -- neither of whom I'd met before. They were friends of the men who'd stayed with us (both men had now vanished).  One woman  gratefully accepted a scarf, toque and gloves -- she was only wearing a hooded coat for protection from the weather -- and told me she'd be spending the night with her sister.   The other women had stayed at the shelter last year, but had a place to live now in Vancouver. 


I eventually caught up with the two guys who've been staying with us, just across the street from the depot, at a place they often spend the night called "the concrete jungle."  It's fairly well protected from the elements -- concrete roof,  concrete on three sides and big garbage bins on the fourth side -- they had a small fire going and they had large duvets nearby that we'd handed out when they last left.   The gloves fit and when I left, they looked like they'll be okay for another night out in the cold.


Hopefully, we'll open tomorrow night.