Canada’s bitter weather even has penguins shivering

Just how cold is it in Canada? Ask the penguins at the Calgary zoo: Even they have had to take shelter.

King penguins – one of five species at the zoo in western Alberta province – are certainly accustomed to chilly weather, more so than species like the Humboldt that prefer somewhat warmer climes, said zoo curator Malu Celli.

But with a cold snap pushing temperatures below -30 C on New Year’s Eve – and feeling more like -40 C in the wind – and with one fivemonth-old penguin chick still maturing, zoo officials decided to draw a line in the snow on Sunday, setting -31.6 C as the birds’ limit.

They brought the 10 king penguins into their heated enclosure, where they can still be viewed by humans brave enough to be out at a zoo in such temperatures.

Across Canada, planned New Year’s Eve festivities in several cities – for humans, that is – were moved indoors amid a particularly brutal cold snap.

For nearly a week, most of Canada has been under an extreme cold alert.

At midday Monday, the country’s coldest temperature was registered in Eureka, in northern Nunavut territory, at -40.2 C.

The highest was in Prince Rupert, in the western province of British Colombia, at -21.9 C.

But Environment Canada promised “a gradual warming trend... (and) more seasonable temperatures by Tuesday.”

It suggested dressing in warm layers “that you can remove if you get too warm” – a luxury penguins don’t have.