I live in Calgary, and this was actually about 2 weeks ago. It's now 10:30 pm and 0C, and will be a high of +8C tomorrow (with a prediction of +14C on Wednesday). It was so cold that my car died while I was actively driving it. The battery and alternator just quit life, and I had to get both replaced less than two weeks ago. Now I don't even have to warm my car up.

So, question: before modern heating, insulation etc, how did indigenous people keep warm/comfortable/alive with that level of cold?

So meanwhile I’m in Australia where it’s summer, and the weather has all gone a bit strange

Well, I’m glad that where I live in Ontario is unseasonably warm right now because my furnace shut down last week and I’ve been heating my house with fireplaces and electric heaters until a chimney guy can come in and clean out some blockages. It’s usually pretty darn cold around here at this time of year.

Meanwhile, in southern Ontario, other than a few really cold days, it's been unseasonably warm here. Climate change at its finest.

I guess that's what they are called the Calgary Flames. They need to be flames to stay warm when they play.

For everyone who asks why we live up here...it's because this is the only extreme we have to deal with. No hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves....just a cold snap or two, and we always know when those are coming.

Just so we're clear, we were hit pretty hard this year and the prairie provinces got the worst of it. They're always colder than the rest of the country as they're so darn flat. Here in Toronto, it's currently foggy and 1 degree C (34F), with very little snow on the ground.

I grew up in England, so have had some freezing winters (nothing like those in the post) I have also experienced -25c. There are some people here in Perth that have never seen snow first hand or experienced a frost. We do have +40c temps here though - I'm sure some residents of Canada have never experienced that either.

Who all has seen the movie "Day After Tomorrow?" When the flags freeze, you know what's happening.

Seriously cold, but I think the Canadians are just enjoying their moment in the spotlight, as in fact these temperatures are not at all unusual in Alberta. I've skied there three times, the coldest of which was at a daytime high of -35C (Jasper, quite a way North of Calgary, nearly on a line with Edmonton). Once the temperature rises above about -15 you'll see people out and about wearing just a T-shirt...

I wish it snows in Australia 🇦🇺 😢

As a person born and raised in Alberta I can't be happier to see them suffer the effects of climate change. People don't understand just how messed up it is that oil companies RULE that province and because they pay well, most Albertans are happy to work for them and help ruin the planet. The government of AB actually calls diversification the "d-word" and they actively work against projects that could turn the economy away from resource extraction. Southern AB gets 300 days of sunshine a year, and there are always strong cold winds coming through the Crowsnest Pass for wind farm operations. The Smith govt has been working to prevent expansion of those projects, preventing the province from exporting more electricity. AB also has all the minerals required to become a powerhouse of solar panel exports, but anything that's not oil and gas is prevented from accelerating. Let them all suffer on the pyre of their own misfortune. They helped cause this