Syracuse, N.Y. -- Snow crunches under the tires of Rosalia Hernandez's minivan as she drives through downtown Syracuse, eyes scanning the dark streets. She slows at alleyways, peers behind fences and pauses at abandoned tents buried in inches of snow.
On Wednesday night, Hernandez and around 100 volunteers across Onondaga, Oswego and Cayuga went into the cold for the annual Point-in-Time count. Volunteers fanned out as temperatures hovered around 14 degrees.
"People don't always have phones or know the time," said Hernandez, who as program manager for the Rescue Mission Adult Emergency Shelter spends most of her days helping vulnerable residents find shelter. "Some miss curfew at 9 p.m., so we do the count late to see who is still out and who really doesn't have a place to sleep that night."
It is going to be a tough weekend for the homeless with windchills expected to reach between 30 and -35 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Weeks of bitter cold have pushed more homeless people indoors, Hernandez said, leaving some of the usual outdoor encampments empty. The homeless have taken to shelters, emergency rooms and anywhere else they can stay warm.
On Wednesday, Hernandez was joined in her van by Miranda Spencer, the Operations Coordinator for the Housing & Homeless Coalition of Central New York. She creates the maps volunteers follow across all three counties. Spencer said her team carefully plans routes to cover every area where people may be staying.
"We have to make sure that we're hitting every part of the county," Spencer said. "And every year, we find someone we've never interacted with before who's experiencing homelessness."
Volunteers get trained before heading out and hit spots where homeless people are known to be like behind manufacturing plants, shopping plazas and under overpasses.
"People often set up tents in these places because they're less visible and a little safer," Spencer said.
Spencer described some of the more surprising encounters volunteers have had over the years. A few years ago, a team stopped at a gas station to ask if anyone in the area was unhoused, only to discover that the attendant working there was homeless at the time.
On another occasion in the Eastwood neighborhood, Spencer came across a woman sleeping in her BMW, who explained she was staying in her car while traveling to a job interview in Rochester the next morning.
"It really just shows that anyone can experience homelessness," Spencer said.
The goal of the annual Point-in-Time count is to collect data on who is homeless for federal funding, while also providing people with supplies, medical care and a place at the emergency shelter.
The Housing and Homeless Coalition led the count from noon Wednesday to noon Thursday. The Onondaga County portion began at the Rescue Mission around 7:30 p.m. The numbers from the county are not available yet.
"Every year, it gives me chills to see how many people are willing to go out in the winter," said Megan Stuart, the executive director of the HHC. "This is hard work. These folks are really vulnerable, and we truly appreciate everyone who cares about people who don't have homes in our community."
Volunteers included Mayor Sharon Owens, Police Chief Mark Rusin, Onondaga County Legislator Nicole Watts, and John Tumino, president and co-founder of In My Father's Kitchen. Teams were assigned different parts of the city and county to cover.
Some volunteers drove around the South Side of Syracuse while others walked the length of the Creek Walk. Some traveled as far as Jordan to ensure the whole county was covered.
The coalition also counts the number of people in shelters and emergency housing, though those figures won't be available until later this year. The count is usually held in January to provide the most accurate snapshot of who is unsheltered, but heavy snow in Oneida County at the end of January pushed this year's count into February.