It was very cold here in Alberta in late December 2017 and early January 2018. The overnight low temperatures were below -20C (-4F) for 7 days straight during the holiday season. The lowest temperature was -31C (-24F). January 2018 was briefly milder before sinking into another 4 day stretch of extreme cold. When it finally warmed up to a balmy -8C we packed the Jeep and made a dash to warmer climates for a while!
As Alberta was plunged into extreme cold warnings on Boxing Day… Alberta was about as cold as Mars’ Gale Crater, the home of the Curiosity rover. Mars is subject to pretty violent temperatures shifts, and Curiosity regularly encounters temperatures below -80 C. But this week, the highest temperature experienced by the rover were -23 C. A Calgary Boxing Day shopper, therefore, might have found themselves getting into a car that was literally colder than a Martian spacecraft.
– Tristin Hopper, National Post, Dec 27, 2017 –

We spent a lot of time indoors in December and January. Inconveniently, it snowed regularly. I did a lot of snow shoveling, but only for short periods of time. It was just too cold. As for The Car Guy and the tractor – neither would start on several occasions…
Canada is one of the coldest countries in the world, having an average yearly temperature of about -5C. Viewed through this lens, it is no wonder that by the New Year we start to forget that we ever had summer…
By January it had always been winter.
– Annie Proulx, Shipping News –
How has your winter been so far?
Cold here in Ohio as well. We had a two week stretch of cold… not as cold as yours but wind chills below zero for a good part of the time. Global warming? Still wondering about that. The south has had cold temps and ice and snow in places where it seldom appears. I am ready for spring.
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It’s been a cold winter in both our countries! I think I prefer the cold to the huge dumps of snow that some places have had.
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We have finally broken our below zero cold spell! I cannot believe how good upper 30’s feels with sun to go with it. Our snow is actually disappearing due to melting…..no problem…they say we should get 6-7 inches this coming weekend.
Your last quote had me laughing because it made total sense to me.
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Temperature is really relative, isn’t it! A warm spell in the winter would be a cold spell in the summer.
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Totally relative!
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Smart move, heading for warmer climate and enjoy the sun for awhile.
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We were only in Arizona a few days when a cold front came in. It dropped just below freezing three nights in a row! Cloudy, a day of rain… was sure nice to see the sun again today!
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