How High Atmospheric Pressure Over a Siberian Town Makes It Earth’s Coldest Permanently Inhabited Place

Sam from Half as Interesting, who is a big fan of winter sports, explains the conditions that make Oymyakon, Siberia the coldest permanently inhabited city in the world with the greatest temperature variance. Coming in a close second is Verkhoyansk, another Siberian town that’s relatively close by. In fact this whole mountainous area is blanketed by high atmospheric pressure, which traps deadly cold weather in its valleys.

…Siberian town called Oymyakon has a record low temperature of -89.9° Fahrenheit or -67.7° Celsius…the atmospheric pressure is on average very high in Siberia and the high pressure is what keeps Siberia super cold during the winter. …further west storms pick up warmth from the Atlantic bring it over and drop it down to keep these areas toasty, but the high pressure area over Siberia pushes these storms away so no warm air comes. Clouds also act as a sort of blanket keeping warm air in but due to the high pressure there are few clouds, so any warm air just escapes right out. Long story short Siberia is cold.