Feeling the cold? Share a thought for the residents of the coldest city on earth where it's currently MINUS 50C


The city of Yakutsk. Located six time zones from the Russian capital, 280 miles south of the of the Arctic Circle, and with an average winter temperature of just below -40C, it can (un)comfortably claim the title Coldest City on Earth.

The swing in temperature between seasons is extreme, as it is not unusual for summer days to bask in 25C of glorious sunshine, only for the winter months to plunge 60 degrees - or more.

The record low for Yakutsk was an unbearable February day when the mercury hit -64.4C, however today, the city experienced a 'mere' -49C.



The ground underneath it is permanently frozen, making tall buildings difficult, and any major building project risky, as nearly everything has to be built on concrete piles above ground.

Despite the deterring conditions - forget snow days, schools only close if the temperature drops below -52C - it is home to 270,000 people, a quarter of the entire population of Siberia.

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Freezing conditions: A woman walks over an ice-encrusted bridge in Yakutsk, Siberia, named the coldest city on the planet

Covered up: A young student poses for a portrait at a bus station in Yakutsk, where it is an average winter day when the mercury drops to below -42C degrees and considered a "cold day" when it is -55C outside

Hansel's home: This house in Yakutsk looks more like an iced gingerbread house ready for Christmas Day than a real-life home

Fro-no: A guard dog with a face covered in frost, and a local woman rings in a cloud of cold mist as she enters Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Yakutsk



Waiting for summer: A pair of trainers left hanging outside to wait for warmer days, in a shed in the suburbs of Yakutsk