I live in Wisconsin (in the northern part of the US, like Canada Lite, basically), and we have that thin and diffuse light basically from November to March/April. It's not so much gloom as it is a sort of thing and hard light. Like lemon juice as opposed to lemon curd? It does get bright when there's lots of snow on the ground, because the snow reflects in all back, but it's nothing compared to how harsh the light is in the summer.