The world's coldest city in winter is warmer in London during the summer.
Planet Earth is home to some very very cold places. In fact, the uninhabited Dome Fuji in the Antarctic – the coldest place on Earth – has seen temperatures of -93.2°C (-135.76°F). But where is the coldest city in the world?
Well, you’ll have to travel to Siberia in Russia to find it. The permafrost-laden area of the largest country in the world is the last place you’d think a sizeable city would be... but a diamond mine might have something to do with that.
The coldest city in the world is Yakutsk in Siberia, Russia. A record low temperature was recorded in the city on 5 February 1891 at -64.4°C (-83.9°F). During January, the average low temperature is -42°C (-43.6°F), with the city getting less than four hours of sunlight per day.
Yakutsk has a population of 355,000 people, just less than New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Surprisingly, the Siberian city gets quite hot in the summer, reaching an average high of 26°C (78.8°F) in July – that's hotter than London at the time time.
Although Yakutsk is the coldest city in the world, it's not actually the closest city to the North Pole. Longyearbyen in Norway is twice as close, being 1,316 km from the North Pole.
There are several reasons why Yakutsk is the coldest city in the world:
Over 355,000 people live in Yakutsk, the majority of whom work for a company named Alrosa, which runs a diamond mine.
Oymyakon in Russia is often considered the coldest inhabited place in the world. This remote village (about a 21-hour-long drive from Yakutsk) of around 500 people holds the record lowest temperature: -71.2 °C (-96.2 °F).
Oymyakon is so cold that cars left outside need to be kept running. If they aren’t they won’t restart.
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