Special people live on the Vostok Russian Antarctic station, where the lowest temperature record on the planet was recorded (-89.2 ° C). Prepared mentally and physically, they agree to live and work in such conditions for a specified period and for a decent reward.
And where the coldest city in the world is located, people live all the time, and it's hard to hope that their salary is so high that it can compensate for extreme conditions ...
The coldest republic
In order to officially be considered residents of the coldest place on earth, the inhabitants of several settlements argue, and they are all located in one region of Russia - in Yakutia. It is possible to distribute the title the coldest city in the world in different ways, based on various formal interpretations, but to take the title of the coldest republic from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is unfair.
Capital of the cold
On the Lena River, there is a city that in terms of population occupies third place in the vast Far Eastern District. About 300 thousand people live in Yakutsk, and this number has been growing lately. The Yakut population of the surrounding settlements is moving to the capital of the republic, there are many migrants from Central Asia and China.
Visitors are not afraid of the cold weather. The average January air temperature in Yakutsk is -40 ⁰, the record for cold is -64.4 ,, sometimes snow fell in June, spring and summer are short-lived, like a moth's life. At the same time, the annual temperature amplitude is the largest on the planet and exceeds a hundred degrees. In the short summer, the maximum can reach the same forty degrees, but with a plus sign. Nevertheless, short, hot days cannot feed the land of Yakutia, and it is Yakutsk that is the coldest city in the world, as recognized by those exotic lovers who fall on the banks of the Lena in winter.
This city is the largest settlement located in the permafrost zone. Here, much more specifically differs from cities located in areas with less aggressive climates. Here they build in a special way (it is impossible to bring the usual foundation under the house: ice below), in their own way lay communications, lay the road surface.
But the federal authorities should pay more attention to the frost-resistant Siberian republic, to ensure that people do not leave these extremely cold places. Yakut diamonds alone are enough for people to gradually appear, withdrawing this area from state and, in general, Russian control.
Cold pole
According to some reports, one hundred years ago in Oymyakon, the air temperature was measured - 82 ⁰. Given that the village is located at 741 m above sea level, and the Vostok Antarctic station is five times higher, the Yakut village holds a record of the lowest temperature on the planet, even if the official minimum is -68.3 ° C.
The distance from the ocean, the location in the basin where cold air masses flow from the surrounding space, make Oymyakon really the coldest place on Earth, where people live constantly, but it is not the coldest city in the world. According to the status, about a thousand should live in the city, and in this village there are about 450 inhabitants.
Record holder for all articles
But in another Yakut settlement - Verkhoyansk - 1150 people live. The city with the coldest winter is also one of the smallest settlements of the Russian Federation with urban status.
The official temperature minimum is –67.8 ° C, the average January minimum is –48.3 ° C, frosts are possible at any time of the year, even in July. At the same time, there is a huge contrast between the highest and lowest temperatures during the year, characteristic of the climate of these harsh places, and the amount of precipitation makes Verkhoyansk look like some kind of African desert.
It is not surprising that those who protested against the government have long been referred to the settlement here. The first to recognize the similar potential of Verkhoyansk was Alexander II, who referred here to the “cooling off” of the participants in the Polish uprising of 1863. It was political exiles who became the first intellectuals and simply educated people who established regular scientific observation of the weather. They also recorded indicators of low temperatures, unprecedented throughout the vast empire.
The dispute between Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon about which city is the coldest, continues to this day, causing local residents a purely sports interest. Another thing seems to be more important: is it possible to resist the natural elements so that people living in such harsh conditions do not feel flawed, that they fully live, and do not survive, struggling with the mighty nature.