Oymyakon, the pole of cold

-67.7 C, and school stays open down to -55

On 6 February 1933 the weather station here recorded -67.7 C, the coldest temperature ever officially measured at a permanently inhabited place in the northern hemisphere. The village sits in a valley in the Yana-Oymyakon highlands on the Indigirka river, and the shape of the ground is the reason: the mountains around it trap cold dense air and keep warm wind out, there is almost no winter daylight, and the sea is a very long way away. The ground is permafrost all year. School closes below -55 C, which means it is open above it. Around 460 people were counted in 2010 and maybe 560 by 2021, down from a peak near 2,500. People live on fur and ice fishing. Sakha Republic.