Today we blame the weather on climate change. That wasn’t even heard of 73 years ago.
But we can still compare then with now. Cochrane Public Library archivist Ardis Proulx-Chedore reads a report on how cold it was on this week in 1950, from the Northland Post.
Keep in mind that the temperatures are stated in Fahrenheit. On that scale, the freezing point is +32.
“The winter reached its coldest to date during the week. Low reading for Sunday was -30 and the highest reading for Saturday was -5. The mercury climbed above freezing only one day, Tuesday, when it reached 35.”
Thirty-five Fahrenheit is about 2C. That day brought rain and a brief thaw, which made walking treacherous.
There’s more from Harold Wills’ report on temperatures through the week.
“Thursday, January 5th, -27; Friday -26; Saturday -16; Sunday -30; Monday minus 22; Tuesday -4; Wednesday -8 and this morning -10. There was eight inches of new snow in three days.”
Again, in Fahrenheit, zero is -18C, and the two scales converge -40.
You can do your own research into any aspect of Cochrane history in the archive department at the library.