The temperature in the world’s coldest village reached near-record lows, so much so that their digital thermometer broke as a result.
Oymyakon is a village in the Russian region of Yakutia.
It’s named after the Oymyakon River, which literally translates to mean: “unfrozen patch of water; place where fish spend the winter.”
The digital thermometer in the village was installed last year to appeal to tourists.
However, as temperatures dwindled to -62C, the thermometer broke down because it was too cold.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in a permanently inhabited area was -68C in Oymyakon in 1933.
The freezing conditions of Antarctica reached a new low in 2013 when NASA announced a record temperature of -94.7C based on analysed satellite data.
Around 500 people live in the village of Oymyakon and they haven’t been letting the frost stop them from going about their lives as normal.
Anastasia Gruzdeva, a 24-year-old woman from Yakutsk in Russia, posted a selection of photos on Instagram showing her and her friends with frozen eyelashes as they braved the harsh outdoors.
Journalist Elena Potoskaya couldn’t believe it when she witnessed Chinese tourists going for a splash in nothing more than their underwear.
“We the locals, are afraid to go out into the cold even on the street,” she wrote in an Instagram caption accompanying the video.
“And then… Tourists bathe…”
Petr Chugunov, a photographer from Yakutsk, took a stunning photo of a brave ballerina gracefully performing on the street.
“I really did take pictures of the ballerina outside in minus 41, it is not Photoshopped,” he told The Siberian Times.
“It was my idea, actually it is my project, to photograph ballerinas on the city streets.”
A number of people expressed concern for the ballerina’s health.
However, Chugunov had a warm coat and valenki (felt boots) on hand for the ballerina to put on the second their photoshoot was over.
