Roadside requests "in the thousands" as extreme cold grips Alberta

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Just how cold is it in Alberta this week?

According to the Alberta Motor Association (AMA), cold enough that your car might not even start.

Or if you’re one of the lucky ones and you’re able to get it going, it might not last throughout your commute.

As of 8:30 am, Calgary was already at three times the usual volume for battery boosts and climbing, AMA told Daily Hive Urbanized in a statement.

Requests for tows and winches were double the norm and on the rise.

AMA did not provide an exact number of calls but said it was “in the thousands” between Calgary and Edmonton.

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“We have all hands on deck across the province right now to help manage the volume and help people as quickly and safely as we can,” a spokesperson with the company said.

In Edmonton, as of same time, the requests for battery or light service were nearly five times what they typically are, and requests for tows and winches were close to four times their regular volume.

“When it’s -15°C or colder, plugging in your vehicle three to four hours before driving can often be the difference between an engine that starts and an engine that doesn’t,” Mark Pasternak, chief instructor for AMA Driver Education, said in a statement.

“If you don’t have that option, ensure you have a newer battery — about three years old or less — and consider using synthetic oil if you can.”

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued extreme cold warnings for the entire province of Alberta this week with temperatures plummeting close to -50 °C in some areas with the wind chill.

In extreme cold, AMA said, it receives requests for roadside assistance roughly every 40 seconds. Calls about dead batteries can spike by six times the usual number.

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