The True Sign that Warm Weather is Here

Forget the hint of brown in the grass, the t-shirts and flipflops.  Nope, the true sign of summer weather is in the press release below. (Thanks, to all the people who helped make this shelter work this last winter.)

The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office has announced the close of The Eureka Extreme Weather Shelter (EWS) for the winter 2011-2012 season.

“The Eureka Extreme Weather Shelter Committee is very pleased to have provided 145 beds over fourteen nights in January, February and March to men who would have otherwise slept outside in potentially fatal conditions,” said the District Attorney’s Office Outreach and Education Coordinator Lynette Mullen, who coordinated the project.

According to Mullen, the EWS was established to provide nighttime emergency shelter when temperatures were predicted to drop below 33 degrees or below 35 degrees with rain or when high winds or over an inch of rain were expected overnight and the Eureka Rescue Mission, which provides approximately 65 emergency shelter beds, reached capacity.

Initially EWS Onsite Coordinator Steven Bell monitored the daily weather forecast but in February, Troy Nicolini, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ‘s National Weather Service Eureka Office, established a new automatic email alert system that notified Bell and others when weather conditions were predicted to meet the EWS opening criteria.

When opening criteria was predicted, media outlets, the Eureka Police Department, county jail staff and Betty Chin, who does outreach to the homeless in the community, were also notified regarding the additional shelter capacity.

“I am extremely grateful to the many people that helped make this project a success,” noted Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos. “And our office was proud to be part of the effort.”

“Eureka Main Street was very pleased to see how many people were concerned about the well being of homeless people during the harsh winter nights,” added Eureka Main Street Executive Director, Charlotte McDonald. “The Eureka Extreme Weather Shelter was an incredible and very successful partnership.”