"Breath Freezes Instantly"...A Village Where Children Go to School Even at Minus 50 Degrees

Coldest Inhabited Region on Earth
Temperatures May Plunge to Minus 60 Degrees in Some Areas Amid Severe Snowstorms

Another cold wave has struck Yakutia (Sakha Republic), a region in Siberia, Russia notorious for its extreme cold.

On December 25 (local time), Russian local media and foreign news outlets reported that minimum temperatures across Yakutia had dropped to minus 56 degrees Celsius. The temperature plummeted sharply after more than three days of severe cold accompanied by heavy snowstorms. Due to this extreme cold, all schools in Yakutia have been completely closed, and kindergartens have also shut down en masse.

Meteorological experts believe that this cold wave is unlikely to end in a short period. As the severe cold is expected to persist, there are even forecasts that temperatures in some areas could drop further to minus 60 degrees Celsius.

Street scene during the severe cold season in Yakutia. Screenshot from Siberian Times

Yakutia is considered one of the coldest inhabited regions on Earth. In this area, a complete school closure is only implemented when the temperature falls below minus 56 degrees Celsius. It is not unusual here for students to attend school as usual even in weather around minus 50 degrees Celsius.

Foreign media reported, "In the extreme cold of minus 56 degrees, the body reacts before the numbers on the thermometer." The moment you exhale, your breath freezes instantly instead of dispersing in the air, settling as white frost on your eyelashes and eyebrows. Even standing outside for just a few minutes causes your eyelashes to stick together, making it difficult to open your eyes, and every time you speak, ice crystals accumulate around your mouth. Just taking out your phone for a moment with gloves on causes a pain in your fingertips as if they are freezing.

Photos and videos posted by local residents on social networking services (SNS) show street scenes where visibility is almost zero due to snowstorms, and cityscapes resembling snowfields where it is hard to find any trace of people.

Additionally, it is so cold that cars frequently break down, and restroom issues are known to be one of the hardships residents face. This is because the ground is frozen, making it difficult to install pipelines for sewage treatment.

Meanwhile, Yakutia's all-time lowest temperature was minus 67.6 degrees Celsius, recorded in 1993. This is known as one of the lowest temperatures ever observed in any inhabited area of the world. Previously, in January 2023, the temperature in this region dropped to minus 62.7 degrees Celsius, which was recorded as the lowest temperature across Russia since February 2002.