There's cold, and then there's regretting every decision that led to your experiencing this weather: cold.Today, Western Standard readers, we will be exploring the latter, recounting the day that was haunted by a frightful chill like none other ever recorded in North America's history.The beginning of our story can be traced back to 1911, when on the southern banks of Alberta's Peace River lay Fort Vermilion.The hamlet, nestled in the upper northern part of the province, saw what was considered at the time to be the coldest temperature recorded for a few decades, before another Canadian region broke that record..As reported by DurhamRegion.com, on January 11, 1911, the temperature at Fort Vermilion reached -61.2C.The documented temperature would be more than just a slap in the face for residents who were likely already experiencing the harsh conditions that temperatures far below zero bring, on steroids.Many who've weathered -20C know what it is like: the mucus in their nostrils slowly begins to freeze, and the exposed flesh on their face becomes insensible.The colder it gets, the faster these symptoms materialize, exposing residents to life-threatening risks, like hypothermia and potential death..Fort Vermilion held this record up until a few decades later when a lethal cold spell loomed over the town of Snag, Yukon.In the early morning of February 3, 1947, a federal weather observer, Gordon Toole, sped outside the warm lodge of Snag Airport to record something he could feel in his bones to be true: an unprecedented cold.As Canada's History tells it, for a little longer than a week, the weather in Snag was consistently cold, at -50C, but that morning felt particularly unbearable.Outside, Toole could hear the dogs barking crystal clear in the village, which was six kilometres to the north, while his breath made a peculiar tinkling sound on the exhale as it fell to the ground in a white powder..At last, he arrived at the white-louvered shelter where the thermometers were stored, by which time he felt the cold invading through his parka.Unlatching the door, he shone a flashlight on the thermometer, careful not to breathe on it.That's when, from the corner of his eye, Toole saw something he'd never seen before.The tiny sliding scale inside the glass thermometer had fallen into the last column, below -62.2C, which was the final mark on the thermometer..Astonished, Toole rushed back to the barracks to retrieve his colleague, Wilf Blezard, to witness the temperature revelation.Toole then estimated the temperature to be about -63.8C.He then etched a mark on the outside of the thermometer, illustrating the coldest day ever recorded in the history of the North American continent.As part of their job, the two observers recorded the weather as being similar to the last two months: clear, dry and calm.Snow on the ground was documented at 38 cm, while evaporating at three centimetres..The distant sounds were clear as day, and so was eye-level visibility — at around 30 km, though ground level told a different story, with its visibility being compromised.At about an arm's length, an eerie, dull-grey shroud of patchy ice or frost fog hung above the heated buildings.The weather office transmitted the chilling news to both Whitehorse and Toronto, and within the hour the director of the Canadian Weather Service congratulated Snag on becoming North America's "cold pole."The next task was to send the thermometer back to Toronto to be recalibrated, where the readings would also be confirmed. .Of course, thanks to the unheard-of cold, it took them a week to even send a plane to Toronto, where the technicians accepted an official temperature of -63C.To this day, this stands as the lowest temperature ever recorded in North America.Back in 2016, one of the weather observers, Blezard, recalled that day, and its blistering cold."We had to put a little lock on the door to the instrument screen because everybody was rushing out and looking at the thermometers. Even the slightest bit of body heat would cause the alcohol to jump," he remembered..By the afternoon of that same day, the weather had become balmy by recorded standards, at -47C.Before the day had come and gone, media desperately tried to reach what they would call the "frozen chosen" for exclusive interview accounts of the historic cold.Journalists from the Milwaukee Journal, the Vancouver Sun, to The Globe and Mail all wanted to know what -62.2C felt like.In The Globe and Mail's coverage, despite their knowing alcohol thermometers were being used to measure the temperature since mercury thermometers freeze below 39.4C, their headline read: "Snag snug as mercury [sic] sags to a record -82.6°," (Canada used Farenheit until 1975)..Later in the story, they write: "the only reason the men didn’t celebrate was that all the alcohol at the station was in the thermometer, and that was nearly frozen."Mountains of telegrams were sent by different countries, expressing their enthusiasm for the world's new cold pole.Five days later, American military and media arrived to uncover how those who recorded the coldest day on the continent lived and work in such cold conditions.Despite the intrigue, the men were more interested in what the spectators brought with them: cargoes of meat, beer and whisky..There were a few reasons this tale piqued the fascination of many — one, because it's a typical Canadian feature: the cold.The second: it was a record for the whole of the western world, not just Canada.And thirdly, as many celebrities know, a nifty name gets you far in terms of recognition, and Snag was no different.As for what happened after all the hullabaloo, the Snag weather station continued to operate until 1966 at Snag Airport, east of the Alaska-Yukon border, and 25 km north of the Alaska Highway..The airport is now abandoned along with the village, though at the time it was populated only by eight to ten First Nations and fur traders, a smaller population than the number of staff at the airport.But now let's answer what are probably your burning questions, Western Standard readers: What did -62C feel like?Blezard and Toole have repeatedly commented that there is a tremendous difference between -45C and -63C.Their anecdotes on the topic are pieced together from station correspondence with the regional office in Edmonton that winter and recent interviews with the two.."At 80F [-62.2C] below,... talking... and barking of dogs in the village could be plainly heard at the Airport four miles away.""An aircraft that flew over Snag that day at 10,000 feet was first heard when over 20 miles away; and later, when overhead, still at 10,000 feet, the engine roar was deafening. It woke everyone who was sleeping at the time; because they thought the airplane was landing at the airport."In an interview, Blezard recalls the antics that the staff got up to in the midst of the frozen air."We threw a dish of water high into the air, just to see what would happen. Before it hit the ground, it made a hissing noise, froze and fell as tiny round pellets of ice the size of wheat kernels."."Spit also froze before hitting the ground.""Ice became so hard the axe rebounded from it. At such temperatures, metal snapped like ice; wood became petrified, and rubber was just like cement. The dog’s leather harness couldn’t bend or it would break."On top of breaking a continental record, weather observers can thank Snag's monstrous cold for making their lives a little bit easier.The thermometer was redesigned with Snag in mind to reach -70°C — an ode to Canada's coldest day.
