Temperatures there have dropped to as low as -62°C, according to one thermometer, cold enough to freeze people’s eyelashes.
The official weather station at the ‘pole of cold’ registered -59°C, but locals said their readings were as low as -67°C – less than 1°C off the lowest accepted temperature for a permanent settlement anywhere in the world, recorded in the same village in 1933.
None of this stopped a group of resilient Chinese visiting Oymyakon from peeling down to their underwear in the blistering conditions and taking a splash in a mysterious pool fed by a spring that never freezes in the village.
They won admiration from local journalist Elena Pototskaya who wrote: ‘Today at the Pole of Cold in Oymyakon – in a 65-degree frost – Chinese tourists swim in the ice-free spring Yeyemu.
‘This does not freeze even in severe frosts in Oymyakon. Horror – us locals are afraid to go out in such a cold. And here … the tourists are swimming …’
Elsewhere life went on as normal in the Siberian freezer.
In 1933, a temperature of minus 67.7°C was recorded in Oymyakon, accepted as the lowest ever in the northern hemisphere. Lower temperatures are recorded in Antarctica, but here there are no permanently inhabited settlements.
Some might say that the reason is because the baggage handlers can only handle so…
Instagram is a hotbed for stupid trends. Now people are covering their tongues with glitter…
Have you ever been seduced by a vegetable? These potato butts are almost as hot…
Cartoonist Scott Johnston is not well-known and does not have a huge social media presence,…
While some cows sit like dogs, some dogs actually don’t sit like dogs at all. Confusing,…
These mildly infuriating things happen almost every day… Pushing you closer and closer to completely…