I must protest.

You haven't spent much time on the hi-line, have ya?

Folks in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and I'm guessing most of interior Canada might beg to differ with ya there, son.

Now these last 5 to 10 years have been gettin' pretty warm...but truly...cold snaps with daytime highs below zero are common enough to these parts in December, January, and February that even the folks on the weather channel rarely remark when they hit.

Here in Missoula, it's tropical. Our average lows in January are 16 above...but like I said...cold snaps (used to**) occur often enough that a thermometer with a bottom temp of zero just wouldn't do.

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**global warming has affected us greatly. we're called the garden city in montana, because our growing season is 100 days long...well. nowadays, it's more like 130 to sometimes 150. We used to get our first frost in September, and our last in May...but now...there are people in town growing cantaloupes...cantaloupes!