First of all, welcome Leslie and Joe!!! Glad to have you aboard.
Next... no Donna, this is not typical December temps for us... we usually don't drop below -20 until after the new year. However, a stretch of -35 or colder a couple of times every winter is not unheard of. In my 16 winters here, I have seen it dip below -47C. Now THAT is cold!!
As for the vehicles, once they are started and warmed up, they run just fine. All Canadian vehicles are equipped with a wonderful device called a block heater... basically it is an electric heating element that keeps the engine block warm on the cold nights. Our vehicles have a plug that usually protrudes from the front of the car somewhere (you tuck it away in summer) and we plug them in when things drop below about -25. Makes starting them the next morning much easier, although on the REALLY cold mornings the tires tend to not round out until they warm up... makes for a bumpy ride
Wanda, it looks like you have about twice as much snow as we do, but we are much colder right now. Trade ya...
Alan, some people live here by choice, we ARE in the middle of oil country after all... but some of us are here because that's where the Air Force sent us (there is a big F-18 base here and a world class air weapons range)... we are NOT here by choice (at least not this time of year).
That said, this is a great area... clean water, clean air, lots of lakes and outdoor activities... just a tad isolated. I can see your point, living in sunny SoCal, but being the very small-town, anti-big-city guy that I am... I might just ask you the same thing and be amazed that you would choose somewhere with so much overcrowding, air pollution, crime, traffic and the annual wild fire thing... I guess it's what you are used to, but I'd much rather raise kids here than there.
The way I see it, weather like this makes a
Disney cruise soooooooo much more inviting, don't ya think?
Besides... it's a dry cold...
John