We can find the city of Oymyakon in Russia, 7 kilometers away from Moscow. It is situated in the Yakutia Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). There are almost 1000 people that are resisting the extreme weather over here and making it their home. The lowest temperature ever registered is -72.1 degrees Celsius, but normally it sticks to -60 degrees Celsius during the winter months.
The name in Yakuto language means “liquid water or water that does not freeze”. This is due to the existence of thermal waters in the surroundings. We must point that the population in Oymyakon has to put up with 9 months of a very hard winter. An example of this is the fact of fish freezing 30 seconds after leaving the water. The brave habitants of this land don’t usually leave the house during the winter months; they have real respect for the cold. The few times they do get out of the house are to visit the toilet which is always outside because of the danger of pipes exploding due to frozen water. It is frequent that everything freezes; noses, beards and even toilet paper!
There is an explanation for all this cold to get concentrated at this place. Oymyakon is situated in a valley between two small mountain chains that trap temperature during de 365 days of the year. The cold air is heavier than warm air for this reason in this valley, cold falls and stays creating this phenomenon names thermal inversion. On the other hand it also makes temperatures during the short summer they have raise until 35 degrees Celsius.