How cold was it? So cold that February was a record setter, according to Environment Canada.
The average temperature for the month was -18 C, breaking the old record of -14.5 C set in 1949. The normal average is -5 C.
Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon put the blame on an arctic air mass settling over the region starting in the first week - and staying.
"That happens every winter from time to time, however this time what was peculiar about it was it stuck around for so long," he said. "There were certain times in February when it did retreat a little bit but then it filled back in again and it remained quite cold and below average for the whole month."
Feb. 4 was the coldest day when the low was -38.2 C and the high just -21.3 C. However, the low was only the second coldest for that day. The record of -40.6 C was set in 1937.
Just one daily record fell, when the low for Feb. 25 dropped to -32.4, edging out the old mark of -32.2 set in 1922.
"Just one minimum daily temperature record broken, the story was the prolonged cold," Sekhon said.
Looking ahead, Sekhon said March appears on track to cycle into more normal temperatures starting this weekend when the forecast is for a high of 4 C on Sunday. Normal highs for month are in the 3 C range.
"There is some relief on the horizon," he said.
