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Cold spell exposing Canadians as wimps
By SHAWNA RICHER
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Halifax ? Numbing temperatures have gripped most of the country, from Alberta to Newfoundland, but a look at history suggests Canadians may be losing their legendary resilience when it comes to winter.

A cross-country temperature check Wednesday read more like a plummeting stock ticker. At their lowest points Wednesday morning, Edmonton was -43 and Regina -44. Calgary and Thunder Bay both hit -22. Moncton plunged to -24, Saint John to -18, and Montreal to an unseasonable -22. Toronto and Charlottetown weren't badly off at -15. St. John's, at -6, was balmy by comparison, but it has been clobbered with more than 40 centimetres of snow since the weekend. Only smug Vancouver, at 6 degrees, posted above zero, while Goose Bay, Labrador, which hit zero, was the mildest place in Canada east of the Rockies.

With the exception of B.C., temperatures across the country are 10 to 20 degrees lower than normal.

"That is almost uncivilized," said David Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist. "If you stick a thermometer into Canada, it is colder almost everywhere, which is rare. It's remarkable, yes, but it's not a record cold."

Have Canadians, who live in the second coldest country in the world behind Russia and are regarded by most as hardy souls who chuckle in the face of snow and falling mercury, become a nation of weather weaklings?

Bill Gough, an associate professor of climatology at the University of Toronto, thinks so. Global warming has given us some relatively balmy winters the past few years. Either our memories are short or our toughness is faltering.

"Between 1850 and 1900 there were many days that went below -25," Mr. Gough said. "Sure it's cold, but it's not as ridiculously cold as in the past. Those temperatures just don't happen any more. We have a new threshold for cold and it's lower. I think we are becoming a nation of weather wimps. Especially in Toronto, where people don't like to dress for it."

Most people remember last winter, the warmest in a half-century, with temperatures nearly three degrees above normal.

Dan Kulac, a meterologist with Environment Canada in Edmonton, said he's been encouraging people to keep their children and pets indoors. Still, he said, there was no extreme-cold warning in Alberta. The guidelines are different for every region, he said.

"This is cold for us but it's not what we consider record or extreme, whereas -20 in Toronto almost shuts the city down" Mr. Kulac said. "In the Maritimes, this weather would be considered pretty harsh."

In Nova Scotia, where Wednesday morning dawned at -38 with the wind chill, it was so cold that salt wouldn't melt the road ice. Schools in most rural areas of the province were closed because driving conditions were so perilous. In Yarmouth, N.S., the animal shelter was collecting stray cats and dogs from the cold. In St. John's, the city is considering dumping snow into the harbour ? it has had more than 340 centimetres (eight feet) since winter began ? because places to clear it are running out. Meanwhile, New Brunswick was suffering through its third day of extensive power outages.

Mr. Gough, citing Survival, Margaret Atwood's thematic guide to Canadian literature, said winter weather is a unifying experience for Canadians, something we embrace, brag and complain about with equal passion.

"That extreme frontier experience is always our first topic of conversation," Mr. Gough said. "It's the one thing we all have in common in a culturally diverse country. Also, weather sticks in people's minds."

This cold snap is the result of an arctic weather system that is also chilling southern parts of the United States. El Nino, which has taken the frost off winter the past few years, remains, but is dormant for the time being. The good news, Mr. Phillips said, is that El Nino's "mid-winter break" looks to be coming to an end, and seasonal temperatures should return in the next few days.

The last time it was close to being this cold for this long was in 1994, when for four weeks beginning in mid-January, 11 of 30 days were colder than -20 and the coldest day fell to -31. So far, in this two-week stretch of Arctic temperatures, Wednesday was the only sub -20 day.

"That, 1994, was the granddaddy of cold stretches for me," Mr. Phillips said. "We thought Lake Ontario was going to freeze over, and that's only happened twice in 120 years (1893 and 1934). It's not even close to that now. For those too young to remember traditional Canadian winters, this gives them something to talk about. But seasonal temperatures are around the corner, and they will feel like a tropical breeze."