Changelog

Blizzard, extreme cold, winter storm and wind warnings as Environment Canada issues them, with a plain note on what each one means here — an extreme cold warning goes out near -45 wind chill, and a blizzard warning is about visibility rather than snowfall.

Where the train actually is right now, how far behind it is running, and anything VIA has posted about it — read from VIA Rail's own tracker every few minutes. It also says when the tracker has gone quiet, because most of this line has no cellular signal and a long gap is normal rather than a stopped train. On the morning it went live, the northbound train was an hour and a half down and VIA had cancelled the Winnipeg-to-Thompson leg after washouts; both were on the page.

Official Canadian Hydrographic Service predictions for the Churchill gauge (station 05010) at the port — today's high and low water and the week ahead, with a ~4–5 m range on the big tides. Handy for boat launches and Cape Merry, and a reminder that a falling tide opens up shoreline that's polar-bear country in season.

How the Polar Bear Alert Program works, when bears are most around, how to avoid a dangerous encounter, and exactly who to call — drawn from the town's official Safety in Polar Bear Country pamphlet. The alert line is 204-675-2327.

What Churchill's wildlife is doing month by month — belugas in the estuary in summer, polar bears gathering through the autumn — with honest ways to see them and who to call about a bear.

Neighbours share what they last paid for staples like milk, eggs and bread, and the board shows the median of recent reports. No official list tracks Churchill's prices, so this one is kept current by the people who shop here.

A new tool for the deep cold: how cold it actually feels right now in Churchill, and over the next three days, with the hours when exposed skin is at risk. It takes the hourly temperature and wind from the forecast and works out the wind chill using Environment Canada's own formula and risk scale — so a frostbite warning here means the same thing it does on the official scale. It shows when skin can freeze in minutes, and stays honest in the mild months too (right now, no frostbite risk). It isn't an official cold warning — those come from Environment Canada, which it links.

Three tools to start: tonight's aurora outlook (space-weather activity, cloud and the hours of darkness, together), the numbers worth saving from the Polar Bear Alert line down, and a month-by-month guide to belugas, bears and the northern lights.