Canada and cold are synonymous but this year the Canadians are saying that they feel the winter and the record cold have come early in the season.

In less than two weeks since the winter set in, the low temperature has smashed a series of old records, forcing authorities to cancel New Year outdoor events and take precautions for a harsher winter including opening shelters for the homeless people.

A 67-year old minimum temperature record was broken in Toronto on Dec 28 when the mercury dropped to -22 degrees Celsius. The previous record was -19.9 degrees Celsius in 1960.

Officially, the winter season began in Canada on Dec 21.

On the New Year’s Eve in southern Alberta, Lethbridge hit a record low of –38.5 degrees Celsius, beating the previous record of –36.4 C set in 1992, according to Environment Canada.

Weather records have been kept there since 1886.

It was even colder in nearby Claresholm, another town in southern Alberta, where a new record of –41.8 degrees Celsius blew away the record of –35.6 degrees Celsius, which was set in 1964.

Ontarians were shivering as well on the day too. Toronto’s Pearson airport saw a record-setting low of –22.6 degrees Celsius, with the previous record of –21.1 degrees Celsius set in 1968.

At the Ottawa International Airport, the temperature dropped to –28.6 degrees Celsius, beating the 71-year-old record of –27.2 degrees Celsius.

According to Environment Canada, winter was mild in 2017 and it was the seventh warmest winter in 70 years.

The government environment agency said an Arctic air mass brought extreme cold to a wide swath over much of Canada prompting many cities to alter their New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Since then, many cities have been put under ‘extreme cold warning’ as temperature kept plummeting, causing snow, windchill and snowstorms. Provinces in Atlantic Canada – Nova Scotia and New Brunswick –were battered by the snowstorm on Thursday along with some US cities.

The Environment Canada issued a fresh extended ‘extreme cold warning’ for Toronto beginning Thursday when the temperature would drop to -20 to -25 degrees Celsius with a real feel of -30 to -40 degrees Celsius.

The lowest temperature recorded in Toronto on Friday morning was -24 degrees with a windchill of -39. It was again a Jan 5 record as previous lowest temperature was recorded on the day at -20.6 in 1959.