As winter sets in, the 800 hearty denizens of the coldest town on earth are bracing for one of the most frigid blasts yet, as forecasters predict that temperatures in Oymyakon, Siberia, could plunge to the coldest ever recorded in an inhabited location. There is no disputing that the mercury slides in Alaska and even in the Midwestern U.S. in the heart of winter. But if you want cold, visit Oymyakon, which this winter is expected to reach (or perhaps exceed) its record low temperature: a bone-chilling minus 90 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 68 degrees Celsius) reached on Feb. 6, 1933. It is a record matched only by nearby Verkhoyansk, Siberia, which endured minus 90 degrees Fahrenheit on Feb. 7, 1892.

Oymyakon's natives have learned to adapt to the freezing conditions: the town's only school closes only when temperatures sink below minus 61.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 52 degrees Celsius), San Francisco-based Green Options Media reported last week. (Quite the contrast to schools in the New York City and Washington, D.C., areas, which close at the mere mention of freezing temperatures and snow.)

Siberia is a breeding ground for extremely cold temperatures, thanks to its long winter nights, abundance of snow and location deep in Russia's interior, away from any body of water that might have a moderating effect on its weather, says Bob Oravec, lead forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service in Camp Springs, Md. Looking at his weather map this week, Oravec saw that pockets of Siberia were recording minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (although he could not specifically determine the temperature in Oymyakon). The world record for the coldest temperature on earth, he adds, belongs to the South Pole, where it dropped to minus 128 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 89 degrees Celsius ) in 1983.

In places like Siberia, cold is a self-perpetuating condition. "When the earth is covered with snow, it radiates whatever little heat it has into space," Oravec says. "If you have snow cover, light winds and long nights, these are very good conditions for very cold temperatures to form."

Adds Jack Williams, coordinator of public outreach for the American Meteorological Society: "The main thing that you need for that kind of cold is a high-pressure area that takes over and keeps clouds from forming. Moisture helps warm the air." When there are no clouds and no moisture, infrared energy emitted from the earth escapes into the atmosphere.

Oymyakon's position at 2,264 feet (690 meters) above sea level in a valley between two mountain ranges also contributes to its chilly climate. "The cold air will pool and sink to the bottom of the valley," Oravec says, noting that "this is what happens in Fairbanks, Alaska, where temperatures in the surrounding mountains can be 50 degrees warmer."

Oravec cannot confirm or deny reports of birds freezing to death midflight in Oymyakon. But he points out that plants can survive in such cold if covered with snow, because the temperature below the snow is considerably warmer than on top of it. "A blanket of snow would insulate you," he says, "and hold the heat in from the ground."

Though Siberia holds the record for coldest inhabited areas, it doesn't hold a candle, er, thermometer to the poles. "There are places in Siberia that don't have snow all year-round, so the earth will heat more quickly in the sun than a place that is covered in ice, like the North Pole," Oravec says.

Scientists and politicians may argue over the extent and significance of climate change and global warming, but to residents of Oymyakon, it's little more than hot air.

7 Comments

1. 1. mroberts 11:39 PM 12/25/08

   Er, NYC and DC schools have relatively few closures when it snows, and I'm aware of none due to cold alone.

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2. 2. mroberts 11:42 PM 12/25/08

   (Although I wouldn't be surprised if there were some school closures due to extreme cold, which most students here aren't equipped for.)

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3. 3. frostedgreen 11:30 PM 12/26/08

   wow, mroberts, your insight radiates intelligence to the dark corners of the universe. In my childhood in minnesota, there were numerous school closures due to extreme temperatures. Whenever the government decided that kids waiting on the corner for the bus was a hazard to their health, the schools would close. I cherished those days, waiting for the news broadcaster to tell us about what districts would be cancelling class; and how we would spend the day curled up in bed with our favorite book, enjoying the short amount of sunlight God would give us to read by.
   I wonder what people do in NYC & DC, seeing as they werent born with brains? take the subway, I guess.

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4. 4. Jager 07:29 PM 12/28/08

   Must be that global warming again ...

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5. 5. willw in reply to mroberts 08:14 PM 12/28/08

   Agreed. Having been in the NYC school system, Mayor Bloomberg does almost everything in his power to ensure that public schools don't close, and private/catholic schools tend to follow public schools. It happens more often in the suburbs, but in Manhattan I maybe had one snow day in my four years of high school.

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6. 6. John Spraggs 03:07 AM 12/29/08

   I'd like to see a little more scientific rigour in public interviews by NOAA's lead forecaster.
   
   Snow does not radiate away more heat than darker earth. Light objects radiate less than darker ones. It is because the snow reflects sunlight and IR from the atmosphere, that it contributes to cooling.
   
   Likewise the coordinator for public outreach of the MSA. IR energy that is deposited into the atmosphere is responsible for most of the warming of the earth, especially in the absence of sunlight. It is the increased portion of IR energy that escapes into space under clear conditions that allows the earth to cool more quickly.

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7. 7. Quinn the Eskimo 03:43 AM 12/31/08

   Having spent a year at a Radar Site (during the Cold War) in the middle of the Bering Sea (St. Lawrence Island) I can testify that the Government keeps working even in untenable weather.
   
   I remember one winter day, it was so cold...we huddled around an open refrigerator just to keep warm

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