The City of Toronto has issued an extreme cold weather alert, advising the homeless to seek shelter and opening up more shelter spaces.

The alert was issued Monday and will be in effect until further notice.

The alert is issued when Environment Canada predicts an overnight temperature of -15 C or lower without a wind chill, issues a wind chill warning or predicts extreme weather conditions.

680News meteorologist Jill Taylor says the city is in for another very cold week.

“Another blast of colder Arctic air will continue to push to the south and east, and overnight lows this week [will be] near -16 C. Cold highs are well below average. We should be close to 1 C for the high at this time of year — it will be nowhere near that this week,” Taylor said.

According to the forecast, Monday will be mainly and breezy with scattered flurries and some sunny breaks. The high will be -5 C with a low near -14 C.

Click here for the forecast.

During the alert — usually called the morning before a frigid night — the city opens up more shelter spaces to encourage the homeless to come in from the cold.

Metro Hall will be opened up as a warming centre at 3 p.m. and will remain open for the duration of the alert.

This season, Toronto has been under an extreme cold weather alert for 27 days, which ties the number of days for 2008-2009.