From this morning’s newspaper, explaining our remarkable cold in a continental context (sub/ad req):

[I]t was as if someone left a giant freezer door open and all the arctic cold leaked out. While New Mexico lay beneath a mass of arctic air 30 or more degrees colder than normal, central Canada saw temperatures 20 degrees above normal.

“We’re getting what they’re supposed to be getting, and they’re getting what we’re supposed to be getting,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Guyer.