The Chinese city of Mohe and the Russian cities of Yakutsk, Oymyakon and Verjoyansk, with temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero, are three of the coldest inhabited areas in the world and are trying to attract extreme travelers
The Siberian cold that shivered half of Spain has already taken on its authentic reality in Mohe, a Chinese city on the border with Russia that may have recorded the lowest temperature recorded by the Asian giant since it was measured by its meteorological services: 53 degrees Celsius below zero. Known as the ‘North Pole of China’, it is located in the province of Heilongjiang, it is the northernmost city in the country and it is home to 80,000 people who face complications like the rest of the world when the engines break down go if they stay outside for more than half an hour or that tears freeze when people walk the streets without adequate protection.
Mohe isn’t the only inhabited place where life takes place in a freezer. A thousand kilometers from there lies Yakutsk, only 450 kilometers from the Arctic Circle. Census as many as 300,000 inhabitants; an unprecedented volume in an extreme area that remains on average 40 degrees below zero from the end of summer until well into spring. While Mohe scored -53º on Monday, it dropped to 62.7 degrees Celsius below zero in this city. Is it possible to live in those conditions?
Reality indicates that. Scientists are an important part of this community. The region in itself constitutes an object of study, which makes it possible to verify the environmental and geological effects of the most radical temperature fluctuations. In the summer, the thermometer rises to 20 degrees Celsius. The houses are on stilts and a kind of buttresses are scattered around the place to prevent the rapid thaw from flooding all the streets. Of course, the swamp is inevitable. In addition to scientists, another large percentage of residents are miners who work in diamond mining, the major businesses of the region, and students. In such a remote and extreme corner the flame of knowledge burns. Founded in 1934 and one of the largest in Russia, the Northeastern Federal University enrolls about 20,000 students in nine faculties (from geology and engineering to law) and a dozen higher institutes.
Yakutsk is an unfavorable city for many, but worse is Oymyakon, another Siberian population immersed in the depths of the ice. With a thousand inhabitants, the city occupies a depression between two mountains. This favors the intensification of the cold due to its own concentration and the almost total absence of sunlight. There are no western thermometers. They explode. Neighbors have to watch the time they get out of bed to light the fireplace, as (wooden) houses literally freeze in just over eight hours. You also hardly see any cars. “Anything that is not covered risks freezing,” warns the tourist office, which asks visitors to adhere to a series of safety measures, otherwise they could “die from the cold in a short time”. In 1933, Oymyakon marked 67.8 degrees below zero, though much of its neighborhood claims the dubious -71.2º that a geologist dated to 1926 based on other calculations.
A few hundred kilometers away is Verkhoyansk. The title of coldest polar city is disputed with Oymyakon. For a single degree. This is how fierce rivalry is motivated not only by the possibility of attracting tourism, but also by some kind of historical honor and also by receiving official support. The population is older, living from mining and cattle breeding. The base fuel is wood and coal because gasoline freezes. Nevertheless, the distribution of diesel is guaranteed to feed the electrical generators. Mobile phones and the internet are essential to communicate with the rest of the country. When the cold comes, the earth freezes and it is possible to travel by car on the so-called winter route. In the summer, the only connection to these remote towns is by plane, as the region becomes a swamp. All food that is in the open air freezes in half a minute.
The two Siberian cities are in contention to be designated as the coldest in the world. They see tourism as a sector to be exploited, even though they still lack the necessary infrastructure. Still, dozens of travelers venture there each year, drawn by entering the inhabited ends of the planet. Authorities are envious of neighboring Yakutsk and China’s Mohe, which have established themselves as a winter destination for extreme weather and winter sports enthusiasts. In the case of Mohe, these arctic temperatures are not strange at all, as its location and arctic climate means that it snows eight months a year. Winter begins in mid-October and ends at the end of April and has become a tourist attraction thanks to the ice and snow parks. Ski marathons have been organized for several years. The highest number of visitors was in 2011, when 10,000 tourists arrived for the auroral festival. The ice, white mountains and northern lights are the spectacles that have boosted the city’s economy.
Local authorities today reinforced controls and security to ensure the supply of heating and water during the Chinese New Year celebrations. In addition, trucks with hot water and electric generators are available 24 hours a day. After the historic minimum last Monday, the weather in Mohe has calmed down, if one understands that temperatures are close to 40 degrees Celsius below zero and the maximum does not exceed 15 degrees below zero.
The burst of the wind of Siberian origin that has turned these cities into an even colder reality in recent days is also hitting other eastern regions extremely cold and in some cases with fatal consequences. Already in November 2022, there was an alarm about the mass of cold air that accumulated all year round on the Russian territory known as the “Beast from the East.”
In Afghanistan, at least 150 people have died in the past two weeks due to freezing temperatures. With 20 degrees Celsius below zero, the virulent winter wave and flash floods wreaked havoc in the villages and froze dozens of Afghans who, due to the very serious crisis in the country, live outside in tents. Adverse weather conditions have also reached South Korea and Japan.
Source: La Verdad
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