Welcome to Top10Archive!
If ever there was a video you'd want to cuddle up with your Snuggie for, it'd be this one!
We're traversing the globe, thermometer in hand, to find the top 10 coldest temperatures
ever recorded!
To give the best indication of just how cold some areas of the world can get, we considered
both ground and air recorded temperatures in compiling this Archive.
10.
Ust'Shchugor, Russia (-72.6° F / -58.1° C)
Taking the record for the lowest temperature in Europe is the village of Ust’Shchugor,
Russia, which earned the title on New Year’s Eve in 1978.
A brisk -72.6° F or -58.1° C was pinpointed at an elevation of 279 feet or 85 meters.
The cold village sits near the merging of the Pechora and Shchuger Rivers in the Komi
Republic of Russia.
On average in December, the region is used to dealing with temperatures as low as -4°
F or -20° C, though January is, on average, the coldest month of the year with a common
low of -13° F or -25° C. 9.
Rogers Pass, Montana (-70° F / -56.5° C) It may not be the coldest temperature recorded
for the United States, but the below-freezing measurement of -70° F or -56.5° C is uncommonly
cold for the northern region of the country.
The temperature was pinpointed on July 20th, 1983 in the city of Glendive in Dawson County.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Montana was 117° F or 47° C at Medicine Lake in
1937, giving the state the record for the most extreme range in high and low temps at
187° F or 86° C in the United States.
8.
Prospect Creek, Alaska (-79.8° F / -62.1° C)
You may be wondering which of the 50 United States carries the record for lowest temperature
recorded in the country's history.
If you've guessed Alaska, you'd be right.
Prospect Creek, a small settlement in Alaska - not even at the northernmost point of Alaska,
mind you - experienced a temperature of just under -80° F or -62° C on January 23rd,
1971 in Prospect Creek.
This milestone earned the uninhabited region the title of the coldest place in the United
States.
On average in January, Prospect Creek’s temperature holds steady around -7° F or
-22° C. 7.
Snag, Yukon (-81.4° F / -63° C) Putting Canada on the map of coldest temperatures
in the world is Snag, Yukon, the former site of a military airfield that closed in 1968.
In February of 1947, Snag set the record for coldest temp in North America with a reading
of -81° F or -63° C. Between January, which is, on average, the region’s coldest month,
the former is typically colder with a middling temp of -22° or F -30° C. In February, the
average ranges around -16° F or -26° C. 6.
North Ice, Greenland (-87° F / -66.1° C) For a period of 2 years from 1952 to 1954,
the research station North Ice remained active on the inland ice of Greenland.
On January 9th, 1954, at an elevation of 7,680 ft or roughly 2,341 meters, the station recorded
a temp of -87° F or -66.1° C, taking the record of coldest temperature in North America
from Snag, Yukon.
Generally, Greenland is met with an Arctic climate, with temperatures keeping below 50°
F or 10° C, even during the warmer, summer months.
5.
Verkhoyansk, Russia (-93° F / -69° C) Russia can be cold, a fact that Napoleon found
out the hard way, but would you guess that it could be record-breaking cold?
Though not the coldest place on the planet, Verkhoyansk is often regarded as one of the
most difficult places to live, something that Joseph Stalin was aware of when he exiled
his political refugees to it.
While Montana holds the record for the greatest temperature range in the United States, Verkhoyansk
claimed the Guinness World Record by 2° F with a range of 189° F or 87° C.
4.
Oymyakon, Russia (-96° F / -71.2° C) Just like Verkhoyansk, a record low of -96°
F or -71.2° C was reported in Oymyakon.
Also located in the Sakha Republic, the very minimally populated town dukes it out with
its neighbor for the title of coldest inhabited place in the world.
The low figure, which was the lowest temperature ever recorded at the time, was measured in
1924.
Nine years later, the record was almost broken again in the same region with a temperature
of -90° F or -67° C, which may be why it’s often deemed the coldest city to live in.
3.
Plateau Station, Antarctica (-123° F / -86° C)
On a brisk day in July 1968, when parts of the world were experiencing some of their
highest temperatures of the year, the now-inactive American research station, Plateau Station,
was dealing with one of its coldest days ever.
The high-elevation station recorded an ungodly cold temperature of -123° F or -86° C. Even
for that time of year, that low a temperature is unseasonably cold as the average usually
hovered around a slightly warmer -76° F or -60° C. When still active, the base was used
for solar observations, hence the higher altitude of 11,500 feet or 3,500 meters, which would
provide for cleaner air and shorter distance to the sun.
2.
Vostok, Antarctica (-128° F / -89° C) The record temperature of -128° F or -89°
C was recorded at the Soviet station of Vostok in Antarctica on July 21st, 1983.
Contesting Vostok for lowest recorded temperature was a satellite reading taken in August of
2010 of -135° F or -93° C also in Antarctica.
When questioned on the validity of the 2010 reading, the head of the Russian Antarctic
Expedition logistics center claimed it to be “unrealistic” to award the title of
lowest temperature based on just a satellite reading.
1.
Dome Argus, Antarctica (-135.8° F / -93.2° C)
Bundle up, Archivists!
We’ve made it to Dome Argus, site of the coldest air temperature ever recorded!
While not recognized by the Guinness World Records because it wasn’t a ground recorded
temperature, the extremely brisk August 2010 reading of -135° F or -93° C was verified
by NASA satellites after researchers of NASA and the USGS combed through 32 years’ worth
of recordings.
Though not the highest elevation on Earth, Dome Argus is at the highest point in Antarctica,
at just under 13,500 feet or 4,000 meters.
Dome Argus may not be one of the most well-known locations on our planet – if known at all
– but those that do know it recognize it as the coldest naturally occurring place on
Earth.