Baby, It's Cold Outside

A few cold hard facts about winter:

Minus 40 is where Celsius and Fahrenheit shake hands.  After that it's just plain cold.  Unless there's a wind, in which case it's colder.  

The daytime temperature in Moose Jaw hasn't risen above minus 20 for almost two weeks.  And Saskatchewan hasn't had such a prolonged February cold snap since 1939.

The air is so clean and cold it cuts like a knife and sparkles in the sun.

The first snow came on September 28.  

Prairie snow is like Hollywood snow - light and more easily swept than shoveled.  Many people use leaf blowers to clear their walks.

When it's packed, the snow squeaks underfoot like Styrofoam.

Almost every vehicle has a block heater plug sticking out of its grille like an umbilical cord.  Some people steal the extension cords powering the plugs.  These people are considered the lowest of the low.

People leave their cars (well, mostly trucks) running while they go in to shop.  Or they have remote starters that they deploy like ray runs, shooting through the store windows.  Pew!  Pew!  And somewhere out in the parking lot a big F-150 roars to life.

Motorists leap from their cars to help a person who has slipped and fallen on the icy street, thus restoring faith in humanity.

Birds, deer and other wildlife have a hard time finding food and even water.

No groundhog, marmot, prairie dog or other underground critter has been seen since late October when the burrowing owls went into their burrows.

The landscape is breathtaking.

The vernal equinox is just over a month away.

Time to go somewhere warm, even if it's just to Temple Gardens, the mineral hot springs in town, where the water in the geothermal pool is a pleasant plus 44 degrees Celsius (111 F).  Ahhhhh.....