Winter In The World's Coldest City Is Bone-Chilling!
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With a series of storms unleashing their fury across the United States this week — all the way from California to New York — many Americans are experiencing the full wrath of the winter season. Freezing as the temperatures may seem, they are balmy compared to those in Yakutsk, the capital of Yakutia, or the Sakha Republic, in Russia. The residents of this remote Siberian city have been enduring average temperatures of below -30°F (-34°C) since December 8, 2020, with the mercury dipping as low as -59° F (-50.6 °C) on January 19, 2021.
While for most, the below-freezing weather would guarantee a slew of "snow days," for kids that live in the "world's coldest city," anything over -40°F (-40°C) is considered "cold but not very cold." Most schools only close when temperatures get below -67°F (-55°C) unless they cater to kindergarteners, in which case the exception is made when the mercury falls to -58°F (-50°C). For adults, it is almost always business as usual. For many, this means spending the day selling frozen fish and other goods in outdoor markets.
One would think that weather like this would have residents pining for summer, when temperatures rise to a more reasonable 65°F (18.5°C). But as it turns out, the residents of Yakutsk prefer the cold weather. Instead of basking in the heat, the long summer days are spent repairing homes and businesses to ensure they can withstand another harsh winter and — even worse — fending off swarms of giant, bloodthirsty Siberian mosquitoes. Fortunately, the warm season lasts for just a few weeks!
Located about 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of the Arctic Circle, Yakutsk was founded in the 13th century by the Yakuts, a nomadic Turkish tribe fleeing from their oppressive Mongolian rulers. It was conquered by Russia in the 1630s and remained mostly insignificant until the 1880s, when large amounts of gold and high-quality diamonds were discovered in the surrounding region.
Today, the bustling city of 300,000 residents boasts several hotels, cinemas, an opera house, a university, and even a zoo. Yakutsk is also home to the NEFU Mammoth Museum, home to one of the world’s only complete woolly mammoth skeletons, as well as those of woolly rhinos, ancient bison, horses, and dogs, dating from as far back as the Ice Age. Also fascinating is the Permafrost Kingdom. The world's only museum dedicated to permafrost, it comprises two neon-lit tunnels burrowed into a permanently frozen hill filled with dozens of fabulous, never-melting ice sculptures of local pagan gods, as well as other recognizable characters such as a sitting Buddha, a pharaoh, and Ded Moroz (Russia’s Santa Claus).
While Yakutsk is the world's coldest city, it is not Earth's coldest place with inhabitants. That honor belongs to the neighboring village of Oymyakon. Home to about 500 residents, "The Pole of Cold" holds the record for the coldest temperature ever documented in an inhabited place — a bone freezing -106.96°F (-77.2°C). Brrrr!
Resources: Nationalgeographic.com, independent.co.uk, yakutia.org
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257 Comments
pkwitness65almost 4 yearsThat is so cool!! Get the joke. LOL
demonboy1555almost 4 yearsits starting to be like that for me ITS LIKE 18 DEGREES WHERE IM AT
roxanne3almost 4 yearsThat's pretty warm for my weather...🤗
optimus_fanalmost 4 yearsHow cold is it there?
gavinfeyersalmost 4 yearswow that looks cold and very cool!
helen0916almost 4 yearsWOW. That must be really cold but I hope it snows a lot in Jeju where I live!
somegeniusalmost 4 yearsI wish it would snow in southern California where I live
lokitosa-160347156658almost 4 yearsI also wish that it snowed where i live in California!!
pinkkitty9almost 4 yearsMe too! I live in CA
covyvyhagyzualmost 4 yearsI too wish that it would snow in where I live too!
lizzytheawesomealmost 4 yearswow that is soooooooooo cool and cold
indecisivealmost 4 yearsUh . . . yikes. That seems really cold, and I don't love cold weather as it is.
mara_lovealmost 4 yearsI would rather be cold than hot because when I am hot I might have more than one fan on but nothing works. When I am cold I can put on a blanket or a sweater or a coat and it always works.
saphege_emsalmost 4 yearswhen i get hot i can drink water and be cool for, like, 6 seconds. when i'm cold i get under some blankets and it takes about 10-15 minutes to get decently warm!- optimus_fanalmost 4 yearsIt takes a lot more time for me to get warm
- optimus_fanalmost 4 yearsHa! For me its the opposite, when hot, well I can just turn on a fan. When cold, I can't do anything
- saphege_emsalmost 4 yearssame here!
wanmeidetaalmost 4 yearsWAOW "fortunately the warm seasons last a few weeks" whoa scary...- pinkkitty9almost 4 yearsWow! that is REALLY cold. It doesn't even get below 30 degrees where I live! I would feel frozen.
wolfdogalmost 4 yearsIt snowed in my area yesterday. The southern northeast doesn't get nearly enough snow as the northern ones.- pinkkitty9almost 4 yearsI wish it snowed where I live
bunnie_kittyalmost 4 yearsOMG The place where I am only went down to -14 degrees record! (Seoul)
