Photo credit: Amos Chapple via Bored Panda
With an extreme subarctic climate, Oymyakon is known as one of the candidates for the Northern Pole of Cold, the other being the town of Verkhoyansk. The ground there is permanently frozen (continuous permafrost). In 1924 a temperature of −71.2°C was recorded, and is currently the lowest temperature ever recorded in a habitat center. There is a communist-era sign in Oymyakon that recalls this event. On February 6, 1933, a temperature of −67.8°C was recorded at Oymyakon’s weather station. Only Antarctica has recorded lower official temperatures (the lowest being -89.2 °C), recorded at Vostok Station on July 21, 1983. During World War II, an airfield was built here for the Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front. Continue reading for more pictures and information.
