These news are quite eye opening how difficult winter can be in other parts of the globe. Here (Finland) it’s completely normal for temperatures to drop to -20C / -4F during winter and something like -25C / -13F is not out of the ordinary. We’ve had freezing air temperatures for about month now and it’ll likely stay that way until April.

But something like this or even close to this with little to no infrastructure or clothing to handle it sounds brutal. Many of our buildings have thick walls with insulation, double pane windows and build in heating to handle these temperatures. Underground power lines in urban areas and even cars are required by the law to have studded tires or other forms of winter tires.