Siberia, with its long, brutal winters, has been a favorite spot for Russian leaders to send convicts for labor-camp sentences for the past four to five centuries. There are large expanses of wilderness in Siberia, and around Novosibirsk, where the locals point to a lack of mountains to keep Arctic winds at bay.

Temperatures dipped to 5 degrees in Howell early Monday, and the wind chill reached -9 degrees. It's colder than Siberia. Literally.

The forecast from the National Weather Service doesn't bring the area to ... almost 20 degrees warmer than in Holland. Siberia, with its long, brutal winters, has been a favorite spot for Russian ...