An alarmingly cold Arctic air mass is entrenched over Manitoba, delivering temperatures close to –40 C in the north and and around –30 C in the south.

Add in the wind chill, though, and it feels more like –50 up in Churchill and closer to –40 in the southern half of the province.

The extreme wind chill values — which first arrived on Christmas Eve — will moderate later Wednesday morning as temperatures slowly climb across Manitoba, according to Environment Canada.

In the south, cloud and some light snow is expected to move in Wednesday evening and into Thursday, so the wind chill values will not be as extreme — at least for a day.

Another push of Arctic air is poised to sweep into southern Manitoba by Friday and last through the weekend with extreme wind chill values likely again, according to Environment Canada.

The weather agency is urging people to consider the following advice:

  • Dress warmly, in layers that you can remove if you get too warm. The outer layer should be wind resistant.
  • Cover up. Frostbite can develop within minutes on exposed skin, especially with wind chill.
  • Outdoor workers should take regularly scheduled breaks to warm up.
  • Keep emergency supplies in your vehicle such as extra blankets and jumper cables.
  • If it's too cold for you to stay outside, it's too cold for your pet to stay outside.

When the temperature dips to this cold, the phone lines to CAA Manitoba heat up.

The association helped out 1,600 people in Winnipeg on Tuesday — mostly with boosts to frosty batteries — and went to the aid of 100 more in other parts of the province.

"We anticipate that we're on track to serve just as many today, especially because we know it's the first day back to work for a lot of people," said spokeswoman Erika Miller.

Some drivers in need of a boost are waiting as many as 10 hours, CAA told CBC News around noon.

Salvation Army's Major Rob Kerr said the Extreme Environment Response Vehicle — a retrofitted former ambulance — has been dispatched each night of the extreme cold, from 11 p.m. until 4 a.m. Staff use it to bring homeless people to the shelter or to give them temporary respite.

Among those picked up last night were a mom and infant, he said.

"Sadly, there are people out there [in this cold] and there's people who need help," Kerr said.

"We're happy when we can find those people and give them help and we can get them either off the street and somewhere safe, or get them the attention that they need."

Although the shelter's beds were full, no one was turned away. Makeshift sleeping spaces were made up with mats on the floor.

Kerr estimated there were more than 50 people who spent the night at the shelter's Booth Centre, while Siloam Mission had 110 people stay at their shelter on Princess Street last night.

"We'd rather have them on the floor in our building than on the concrete out on the street," he said.