Siberian Deep Freeze Bites

Bitter wintry cold has already clamped down hard on the Siberian "pole of cold," even though the actual start of winter lies more than four weeks away.

Notoriously cold Oymyakon has registered three-straight nights of -45.5 C (-50 F) or colder this week. What is more, since the start of November, every day but two has dipped at least 40 degrees below zero.

Although this would be a dramatic or even unthinkable event in almost any other inhabited area, it is actually to be expected in this remote corner of northeastern Asia.

Located some 5,300 km, or 3,300 miles, east of Moscow in the vast republic of Sakha (or Yakutiya), Oymyakon lies at the heart of the world's coldest permanently inhabited land, sometimes called the "pole of cold." The average daily low temperature for the month of November is nearly -40 degrees C. What is more, by mid-January, it dives as low as -52 degrees C (-62 F).

For perspective, Thursday morning's low of -46.0 C (-51 F) was only 5.4 degrees C (10 degrees F) below normal. Yes, it is normally bitterly cold here by mid-fall. Normal daily temperature drops by almost 1 degree C (between 1 and 2 degrees F) from September to early November are among the fastest rates on Earth.

However unfathomable cold below -40 degrees C may seem, it has been much worse in the "pole of cold" historically. Both Oymyakon and fellow Sakha icebox, Verkhoyansk, have reached about -68 degrees C (-90 F).

Oymyakon owes its bitter winters to its remoteness in relation to warmth and moisture from the world's ocean basins. It is located within the greatest expanse of high-latitude land on Earth, stretching for thousands of kilometers to the west and south. Furthermore, the iceboxlike basins are walled off by a series of mountain ranges that shield the coldest areas from most storms, with clouds that would disrupt the regional icebox effect.

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