Oymyakon: The Coldest Inhabited Place on Earth

Oymyakon is  is a remote village in Russia’s Sakha Republic, known as the coldest permanently inhabited settlement on Earth. With temperatures plummeting to record lows, this small community has adapted to extreme conditions that few can imagine enduring.

Oymyakon village is eastern Siberia is closer to the Arctic Circle than it is to the nearest city. A monument in the town square commemorates the day in 1924 when the temperature fell to a record 96 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Oymyakon, north of the Sea of Okhotsk, is the coldest permanently inhabited place on earth. Oymyakon is a rural locality (a selo) in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located along the Indigirka River, 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest of Tomtor on the Kolyma Highway. By winter average temperatures, it is the coldest permanently inhabited settlement on Earth.

A Land of Extreme Cold:

Oymyakon holds the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded in a permanently inhabited location, reaching an astonishing -67.7°C (-89.9°F) in 1933. This makes it one of the most challenging places for human survival, where frostbite is a constant concern, and even daily activities require special precautions.

It is named after the Oymyakon River, whose name reportedly comes from the Even word kheium, meaning "unfrozen patch of water; place where fish spend the winter". However, another source states that the Even word heyum,which means "frozen lake", may be where it gets its name. Oymyakon has two main valleys beside it. These valleys trap wind inside the town and create the colder climate. The temperatures here are extremely cold throughout the year, and it snows frequently. Schools are closed if it is colder than −55.0 °C (−67.0 °F).

 Life in the Deep Freeze:

Over the last few decades, the population of Oymyakon has shrunk significantly. The village had a peak population of roughly 2,500 inhabitants, but that number has decreased to fewer than 900 in 2018. With an extreme subarctic climate, Oymyakon is known as one of the places considered the Northern Pole of Cold, the other being the town of Verkhoyansk, located 629 km (391 mi) away by air. The ground is permanently frozen.

Despite its harsh climate, now approx 500 people call Oymyakon home. They have adapted their lifestyles to the extreme conditions, with specialized clothing, heated garages for vehicles, and diets rich in meat and fat to provide necessary energy. The ground is permanently frozen due to permafrost, making traditional farming nearly impossible, so locals rely on livestock and fishing.

Residents here use outhouses as indoor  plumbing freezes most of the time. Pipes freeze, leading to outhouses. The cold sometimes  gets so unbearable that your eyelashes and saliva will freeze into painful little needles on your  face as you walk down the street. This happens only very rarely and is not of a concern  if you are not wandering about the town for long hours. Even vodka or any alcohol for that matter will freeze if a bottle is left outside.They have heated garages to keep the  cars. Farming is not possible on the frozen land so folks mainly survive on a carnivorous  diet. If you ever plan to visit this place, you’ll get reindeer meat and frozen fish as local  delicacies. Another prominent cuisine of the place is ice cubes made using horse blood served  with macaroni. All these are absolutely must have to survive in this cold place.

But then at the end of every dark winter completed, the town hosts the “Cold Pole Festival,” which is hosted by Chyskhaan which is a pagan spirit that the Yakutians celebrate. He invites the whole world into his frigid domain every year in March for reindeer races, dog sledging, ice fishing, and other merry activities that all local participate in. But since Oymyakon is a two-day long drive from Yakutsk, the nearest airport, the prospect of reaching the place can be tiresome for some but for the adventure hearted, it will be exciting and fun.

Challenges of Living in Oymyakon:

Living in Oymyakon presents unique challenges. Cars must be kept running or stored in heated garages to prevent freezing, and buried pipelines are rare due to the permafrost. Instead, outhouses are common. Schools remain open unless temperatures drop below -52°C (-61.6°F). The darkness of winter, with only a few hours of daylight, adds to the difficulty of daily life.

Some years the temperature drops below 0 °C (32 °F) in late September and may remain below freezing until mid-April. In Oymyakon sometimes the average minimum temperature for December, January, and February remains below −50 °C (−58 °F). Sometimes summer months can also be quite cold, but June, July and August are the months where the temperature has never dropped below −14 °C (7 °F). Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk are the only two permanently inhabited places in the world that have recorded temperatures below −60.0 °C (−76 °F) for every day in January. The climate is quite dry, but as average monthly temperatures are below freezing for seven months of the year, substantial evaporation occurs only in summer months. Summers are much wetter than winters.

Temperature in Oymyakon goes down below zero during most part of the year and the average temperature in the town falls to -58 degrees Celsius in the winters. There comes a time when the temperature reaches a point where the brain goes numb, people keep the engines of their vehicles running 24/7 and eat heavy meat products to stay alive! But human brains work quite differently; they have come up with myriad tricks to survive the cold in their town.

Unique Attractions and Culture:

Visitors to Oymyakon experience an otherworldly landscape of snow-covered forests and icy rivers. The village celebrates its extreme weather with the annual “Pole of Cold” festival, featuring traditional Yakut culture, dog sledding, and ice sculpture competitions.

The Beauty of Resilience:

Oymyakon is a testament to human resilience and adaptation. Its people have learned to thrive in conditions most would consider uninhabitable, making it a fascinating destination for the most adventurous travelers.

Would you dare to visit the coldest inhabited place on Earth, Please tell us in comments box?