National Post (National Edition)
Cold enough to freeze up the Mars rover
HERE'S HOW FRIGID NORTH AMERICA GOT THIS MONTH
North America isn't just in the middle of a cold snap, it's in the middle of one of the largest polar vortexes in a generation. Famously hot areas are being plunged into Arctic conditions, famously cold areas are breaking century-old temperature records, and virtually no piece of the continent is being spared.
Below, a portrait of just how spectacular the cold is right now.
Every single piece of Canada was frozen for one of the only times in history
Even in the coldest winter, there's usually at least one corner of Canada that's thawed out, often on Vancouver Island or in southern Ontario. But over the weekend, every single square kilometre of the country stayed frozen for the entire day.
Credit was due largely to the fact that the Polar Vortex just managed to brush Victoria with its sleeve, instantly crippling the B.C. capital with a snowfall that would barely raise eyebrows anywhere else under the Maple Leaf.
Omaha got colder than it has ever been in Great Britain
The U.K. and Ireland get a lot of credit for being cold and miserable. The Roman Empire dubbed Ireland “Hibernia” for “Land of Constant Winter.” The mythical fur-wearing kingdom of Westeros in Game of Thrones is a clear takeoff of the bone-chilling British Isles.
Nevertheless, a U.S. city without nearly as much cold weather mythology just marked temperatures colder than anything ever seen in the United Kingdom. On only the rarest of occasions, the northern tip of Scotland has dropped to -27 C. On Tuesday, Omaha woke up to -30 C.
It's as cold in Arkansas as the coldest day of Napoleon Bonaparte's retreat
from Russia
Some of the most iconic images of frozen misery were forged during Napoleon Bonaparte's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. And yet, for at least a few hours, a southern U.S. state experienced temperatures as cold as anything that struck the retreating columns of the French Empire.
Napoleon's armies mostly endured temperatures of -20 C with a brief dip to near -30 C. On Tuesday, Fayetteville, Ark., saw temperatures of -28 C, their coldest ever.
Part of Minnesota was colder than the coldest part of Russia
On Saturday, a weather station in Minnesota recorded a temperature of -45 C. Not only was it a new state record, but it was an extremely rare instance in which a corner of the Lower 48 states was as cold as any part of the Russian Federation.
Verkhoyansk, Russia, is notorious for its extreme cold and even has a museum dedicated to the region's frigid temperatures. Nevertheless, as of this writing, it was a balmy -39 C.
New Orleans was briefly as cold as the capital of Mongolia
Tuesday was Mardi Gras, which New Orleans typically marks with the extremely non-cold weather activities of public nudity and scantily-clad parades.
But this year the Louisiana centre woke up to record-breaking temperatures of -4 C. Over in Mongolia, their famously frigid capital of Ulaanbaatar is regularly dropping below -20 C overnight, but their daily high of -3 C meant that for a brief moment they were warmer than The Big Easy.
It got cold enough in Saskatoon to freeze up the Mars rover
Extremely cold temperatures often get compared to Mars, which is notably several millions of kilometres further away from the sun. However, on account of the Red Planet's thin atmosphere, it also has temperature spikes as high as 21C. The more impressive metric, arguably, is that if the Mars Exploration Rover drove through downtown Saskatoon without climate controls, it would seize up.
Although the craft's hearty electronics are designed for extreme temperatures, if not blasted with heaters they cease functioning around -40 C. Last week, Saskatoon broke an all-time cold record with -39.2 C.
It got as cold in Texas as at CFS Alert (the most northerly settlement on Earth)
Texas is in rough shape as the famously sun-baked state copes with record-low temperatures and widespread power outages. On Sunday, some parts of the Lone Star State dipped as low as -18 C.
That was almost exactly the same as the -19 C being felt in CFS Alert, the Canadian Forces signals monitoring station that stands as the most northerly permanently inhabited settlement.
It got colder in the Northwest Territories than it has ever been in the Nordic countries
Canada saw its coldest temperature in four years with a reading of -51.9 C in Wekweeti, NWT on Sunday. While this is still far from breaking Canada's coldest-ever record of -63 C in 1947, it's lower than anything ever experienced in Finland or Scandinavia.
The Nordic regions of Europe have polar bears, tundra and plenty of Winter Games gold medals, but the coldest they've ever recorded was a station in Finland that registered -51.5 C in 1999.
Winnipeg got colder than the peak of Mount Everest
Climbing on Mount Everest generally comes to a stop in the winter due to extreme temperatures. On Saturday, Winnipeg set a new cold weather record of -38.8C — almost exactly the same as the pinnacle of Everest.