It’s (almost) always winter somewhere!

In much of Canada right now, winter is winding to a close. You still need to bundle up in, say, Québec City, Halifax or Winnipeg, where it will drop well below zero at night this week. And it’s not exactly warm in most places, most of the time—though Toronto did see a sunny +17°C last week! But spring is definitely in the air, and in the coming two or three weeks things should start to get downright comfortable in most major cities here. 

But #RealWinter still has a hold on lots of places! 

The cold season is far from over in some parts of Canada and across the world, in some cases for months to come. And even when it’s technically spring, that’s no guarantee it’ll be toasty out.

For instance, long winters are a feature in northern Canada. In Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, sub-zero temperatures last into May and start again in September. And in Whitehorse, Yukon, even in summer the average nighttime low sits at just seven degrees above zero. Just because you’re enjoying 20 hours of daylight for part of the year doesn’t mean it’s warm out! 

Wait, TWO winters?

A lengthy cold season is typical in other northerly countries, too. In Norway, they actually have two different winters, one after the other. They think of them as the “dark” winter and the “light” one. They call the first one mørketiden, which means the dark time. This generally refers to the period north of the Arctic circle during which the sun doesn’t rise. (Parts of northern Canada get a version of that too.) It runs from mid-October through early January. The second winter, the brighter and more cheerful one, can last until April. 

And some places have even that beat.

You don’t need two winters if you just have one endless one.

Norway: “We’ve got two winters! Top that!”

Alaska: “Hold my beer.”

Russia: “Hold my vodka.”

Some places in Alaska see below-zero temperatures all the way into June. And if you’re hanging out in Utqiagvik, it remains cold enough year-round that, frankly, you could stand to wear a Lynx coat even during their version of summer!

In Northern Russia, subzero temperatures also persist until June, and the average temperature begins to hover around zero again as early as August. Of course Russia is pretty huge and most of the country doesn’t deal with that level of harshness, but it’s positively icy the higher north you go. In fact the coldest inhabited place on the planet is Oymyakon, in the Far East of Russia.

To all the cold places: we’d like to send a little love from Canada.

People tend to think of Canada as a cold country, but we cover so much land that it’s only partly true. Remember how in January, the New York Times made the entire country mad when they tweeted that we’re a “bone-chillingly cold country” when reporting on how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might be moving here? (They also said the couple would “inject some razzle dazzle,” as if we didn’t have plenty of both razzle and dazzle already. How rude.) It was ridiculous especially because the royals were considering notoriously mild Vancouver as a potential home base. We love Vancouver, of course, but it’s hardly bone-chilling.

Still, in most of Canada we’re used to getting extreme cold for at least part of the year. As such, we feel a sort of kinship with other frozen places in the world. So even as our winter starts to soften into spring, we at Lynx would like to give a little shout-out from Canada to the places where warmer weather is a long way off. We see you, friends! We got you covered if you need us! 

And no matter what you wear to keep warm, good luck getting through #RealWinter for as long as it decides to stick around.