As delightful as that sounds, staying out in the weather for more than a few minutes would cause exposed skin to freeze, and hypothermia was a big risk.

One of the weirder effects, noticed by the residents of Snag, Yukon, where temperatures were coldest, was that sound began to travel differently.

“A temperature inversion caused sound waves to bend back toward the ground rather than escaping upwards,” Environment Canada’s senior climatologist David Phillips told the National Post.

“People at the airport could clearly hear dogs barking in town and townspeople talking as if they were close by instead of 5 kilometres [3 miles] away.”

Adding to the disorientating effect of hearing conversations from miles away, and the icy fog that surrounded them and diminished their vision, people in the town could see clouds of their frozen breath linger in the air for minutes at a time.

“It was unique to see a vapour trail several hundred yards long pursuing one as he moved about outside," Toole said, according to website Canada's History.