Amanda Johnson 
Oymyakon is the coldest spot on earth where people actually live full time. They are accustomed to extremely low temperatures, so low that their eyelashes become covered in frost within minutes of being exposed to the cold.
They had a new thermometer, an electric one that just quit after it recorded an unthinkable -68C.
Back in the 1920s and 30s, this Siberian village was a place that reindeer herds would stop to get water. Now, it’s the home of about 500 people.
The government established Oymyakon as a permanent homestead so they could make the bands stay put in one place.
The lowest recorded number before this was in 1933. A temp of -67.7 was considered at the time to have been the coldest temp ever in the Northern Hemisphere.
The climate is generally dry. With the average monthly temperatures below freezing for seven months every year, evaporation only happens in the summer months. The Summers are much wetter than winters because of that.
The village is also quite popular because of their extreme weather. It has been the subject of several specials and documentaries.
A geographer from Oxford, Nick Middleton had a television series and book titled ‘Going to Extremes.’He talks about his trip to this remote village and speaks on ways in which residents deal with the extreme temps.
He tells about how Oymyakon lies in the middle of two mountain ranges, which traps cold air all during the year. In the winter, once every other day, the village bull was harnessed to a sledge and a big water tank was placed on it. It was the led to the spring where the men shattered the ice on the surface of the spring, and let the bull drink its fill. They then filled the water tank from the spring, and let the bull pull the tanker sledge back into town. The water spring was naturally warm and so it stays liquid below the surface ice.
This thermal spring located in the village is what it’s named for. Oymyakon means “the water that won’t freeze.”
It’s so cold there that pen ink freezes and some leave their cars running all day because they’re afraid if they’re cut off, they won’t start next time they’re needed. Can you imagine that? That’s insanity!
A 24-year-old woman from Yakutsk in Russia, Anastasia Gruzdeva, uploaded photos on Instagram featuring she and her friends with icy eyelashes as they braved the harsh outdoors.
Journalist Elena Potoskaya was amazed when she witnessed tourists going for a little swim in only their underwear.
She let it be known that the locals are afraid to venture into the cold, even bundled up on land, but the tourists are in the water!
A photographer, also from Yakutsk, captured a gorgeous shot of a ballerina performing on the street.
I’m going to remember how much worse it could be the next time I feel a little chilly here in the south!
We certainly never get cold enough to break a thermometer!
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