Oymyakon is the coldest city in the world. It is a rural locality in Russia’s Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic. Along the Indigirka River, it is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement of earth. The city gets its name from Oymyakon River. City has two main valleys close to it and these valleys play a key role in the extremely low temperature during the winters. The valleys trap cold wind inside the city, leading to bone chilling cold. Oymyakon witnesses extreme winter throughout the year and witnesses frequent snowfall from spring to fall.
The extreme subarctic climate in the city makes it one of the most challenging inhabited places on the planet. The temperature can easily go below -50 degrees Celsius and anything above it is normal for the locals inhabiting the city.
The entire Siberian region of Russia is known for extreme cold, but Oymyakon is simply next level. The lowest temperature in Oymyakon was recorded in 1924 at -71.2 degrees celsius. There is a monument in the town square commemorating the same. With such low temperatures, there’s always the risk of frostbite. While Oymyakon is often referred to as a city, it is actually a village with close to 500 people calling it their home.
The locals here are well versed in the climate condition and have acclimatized according to the weather. Children in Oymyakon go to school when the temperature is close to -50 degrees Celsius. Sun can put a no show for several days and in December, it rises at 10 am. Winters in Oymyakon are so harsh that cars are never turned off to prevent the batteries from freezing.
Since no crop grows in the village during the winters, people survive by eating meat and preserved food. Horse meat and Stroganina fish are among the common food for the locals of Oymyakon. People depend on coal and wood to light fires for cooking and warming up the room temperature.
During the winters, the entire land mass, including the trees, plains and homes in the village, is covered under several inches of snow. If you visit the village, you can easily see the faces of locals covered with snowflakes. There’s no mobile connectivity in the village and boats and other movable assets are tied from a rope after water freezes into thick sheets of snow.
The village has just one shop where locals can buy goods for daily requirements. In case of death of any individual, it takes nearly 3 days to dig a grave as in order to dig the ground, the thick sheet of snow has to be melted first using coal.
As per the records, humans started inhabiting Oymyakon in the 1920s. Nights can be as long as 21 hours in the village during the shortest days. A very famous festival called the “Cold Pole Festival ‘’ is hosted by Chyskhaan, the Yakutian, at the end of every winter.
It might come too many as a shock, but despite being such a chilly place, the Siberian region of Russia was hit by what would be called a heatwave by its standards as the temperature soared to 17 degrees Celsius.
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Oymyakon means “Water that doesn’t freeze” but water does freeze here. Ask the locals who have their eyelashes gripped by snow flakes how hard it could be for an outsider to survive in the village that spits nothing but snow. In a place where the average temperature is nearly -30 degrees celsius during the winters, surviving every day is a new struggle.
Coal keeps burning in the village throughout the day and is mainly used to heat water or melt the snow from a certain area. However, the hot water is not transported to houses through pipes as the pipes would be choked by snow due to extremely low temperatures. It is so cold here, that modern day gadgets like smartphones can’t function here even if the network is made available through mobile towers. However, the landscape here is stunning and might attract travellers to visit the village.
Since the indoor plumbing remains frozen for most of the year, the locals here use outhouses. Cars are kept in heated garages and Reindeer meat and horse meat are the only local delicacies that you’ll be offered if you ever gather the courage to visit the hamlet. Another popular local dish is ice cubes made using horse’s blood that are served along with macaroni. Locals encounter a lot of problems while surviving in the village and the most common problem among them is the brain getting numb after a certain period.
Once the temperature falls below -60 degrees Celsius, children may not go outside their houses. People in Oymyakon have to work really hard to survive in this extreme cold. However, the village has electricity that certainly reduces some pain.
