There are places on our planet that we can hardly understand due to their special situation and conditions. There are exotic places, places with a lot of heat, deserted places and, as in this case we are going to see, frozen places.
I mean Oymyakon, the coldest town in the world, where temperatures drop below -50 degrees. You will wonder how the inhabitants of this town can live.
Oymyakon, the coldest town in the world
The first advice they give to a tourist visiting this town is not to stop the engine of your car when you are outdoors. This is because, like gasoline freezes at -45 degrees, Maybe when you want to start your car again, you can't.
This town is located in eastern Siberia (yes, where the previous cold spell that we spent in January came from). It belongs to the Republic of Sajá and has about 450 inhabitants. This town is very famous for having the record for the lowest temperature ever recorded in an inhabited area. Nothing more and nothing less than -71,2 degrees. It is not, however, the coldest temperature recorded throughout history on planet Earth. This was obtained in Antarctica, specifically at the Vostok base, in 1983, when the thermometer dropped to -89,2 degrees.
How do they survive such temperatures?
The most normal thing in the world is to wonder how the inhabitants of this town can survive in the face of these low temperatures. The normal thing there is to reach -50 degrees in January. In addition, the ground remains completely frozen, forming the permafrost. Children do not go to school when the thermometer shows temperatures below -52 degrees. This circumstance occurs in the months of December to March.
The safest way to survive in such extreme temperatures is to stay indoors as long as possible. It is very difficult to meet someone on the street in winter, as people do not spend more time outside the home than necessary to avoid health problems from frostbite. Also, when you meet someone on the street, they hardly speak. Such behavior is normal and understandable in a place where you are Negative 65 degrees is common in January.
What one might think is that being used to that cold, the inhabitants of this town like low temperatures. In fact, it is the opposite, they consider the cold as something uncomfortable and above all, dangerous. One of the ways they warm up is by drinking vodka. Thanks to this alcohol that they drink as if it were water, they can heat up.
In order to entertain themselves at home, since they have to spend most of their time there, they choose to read books and watch television. Some shows are also organized, but obviously not outdoors. When in the colder months they are forced to leave home, it is to visit the bathroom to relieve themselves, since in this town, having pipes does not make much sense. If there are pipes in this area, would burst due to the extreme temperatures they sufferAs a general rule, the toilet is usually a kind of battered hut located next to the houses.
How do they make a living in Oymyakon?
Regarding the economic activity of this town, it is easy to see reindeer and cow farms. In addition, there are several buildings of the public administration. The Russian Federation invests a lot of money for Siberia to survive, which prevents the economy from working all that badly.
In this town a freezes only 30 seconds after being taken out of the water, the visitor is greeted by a sign that says 'welcome to the cold pole' and in the entire month of January there are only about 28 hours of sunshine.
But why is it so cold?
For starters, the latitude at which the town of Oymyakon is located explains one of the reasons why it is so cold. But what really makes the cold they suffer there become extreme responds to the combination of three main factors: the plateau in which the municipality is located, the distance from the ocean and the anticyclonic situation it suffers every winter.
In addition, apart from being very far from the sea (which does not allow the sea to soften the temperatures), it is located about 740 meters high, which helps the temperatures to be even lower. By having anticyclone situations, temperatures drop more and remain more stable.