timppu: Is that on day or night? Close to sea level or somewhere high up in the mountains?
When I was in Montreal in late January one year, it seemed to me night temperatures would easily go down to -25 C or so, but then it would warm up up to 0 degrees or so daytime. So there was quite a high disparity between the day and night temperatures, which is not what I am used to in Finland. Logical explanation is that Montreal is quite a bit more to the south than Helsinki (about as south as e.g. Paris), so the sun affects the temperatures more especially in winter.
That was mid-morning, about 11:00AM. We're in the bald-ass prairies of eastern Alberta, about 600m ASL. Normal daytime temperature for us is between -15C and -20C. We generally only get a few days a year below -30 - yesterday was one. By 3:00PM yesterday it was -28C. At bedtime it was -23C. I woke up this morning to -21C with a high today of -18C, so we're back to normal.
That brings up a couple interesting question for people:
1.) What's the hottest temperature you've ever seen?
2.) What's the coldest temperature you've ever seen?
For me, the hottest was 40C (104F). My brother-in-law got married on the beach in Maui in August. It was 40C during the ceremony. Brutal time to be wearing a suit.
The coldest was -50C (-58F). Not too surprising - my truck wouldn't start that day.
