Siberian villages are the coldest places in the world now! Woo hoo!

The only website that gives the full answer to the question, “Which places are the coldest on the Earth now?” is Ogimet.com. Check it!

Currently, the world’s coldest place is Oymyakon (also known as Ojmjakon) in East Yakutia, Siberia / Russia). It’s -46.9C now.

Other top coldest places on the Earth belong to Yakutian (Siberian) villages:

2. Segen-Kyuel’, -46.4 °C
3. Tompo, -44.4 °C
4. Batamaj, -43.7 °C
5. Ust’- Moma, -43.1 °C
6. Curapca, -43.0 °C
7. Verhojansk, -42.9 °C

Do you know what? This winter will be coldest in Yakutia (East Siberia/Russia) definitely, as such lowest temperatures are usual for this region. Cold winter weather dwells in Siberia as well as in Yakutsk, that’s becoming to be recognized as the coldest city in the world.

Coldest places on Earth at WX-Now... and no Siberian settlements of Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon in the top...

A year ago I chatted with Jordi, the Catalonian meteorology fan, who runs an amazing blog about amazing snow, http://amazingsnow.wordpress.com/. Think, he is more than just a climate fan, he is actually a pro. Once he wrote the article Limits of Oymyakon for Cold United. A professional could create such a scientific text only.

So I asked him, whether it is possible to display the chart of the current coldest places weather info on any website and, if yes, how to do that. He said that the lowest for “the moment” was not an easy thing to find.

However, Jordi gave me the link to the weather info website www.ogimet.com, I presume, he was working on its development, and said that the world’s coldest places ranking didn’t work yet at that moment…

A few months ago, I received a message from a class mate, who lives now in Calgary. He provided the link to WX-Now’s Coldest places on Earth page and stated, “Calgary is the second coldest place in the world!” I said, “What?!”

I googled news about Calgary’s “cold” record. They were reporting that, according to WX-Now’s Weather Extremes Top, the Canadian city of Calgary with its -37C / -34F or -39C / 38.2F, whatever, managed to reserve the second position among coldest places in the world. That was funny! Hilarious!

No, no. I was NOT jealous. By that moment, I got pretty tired of foggy dark cold days. I preferred extreme cold weather to move away from my Siberian city of Yakutsk to other places for a while. So, on that day, when Calgary made it to the top, we had long-wished warm weather in Yakutsk, but… it was much colder in Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk.

Why were those Siberian settlements not mentioned in the chart? That fact surprised me much.

Frankly saying, I immediately liked the WX-Now Weather Extreme page, because they finally did, what we, I and Jordi, had talked about before. My first reaction to that website was, “Wow! How cool it is?”

I followed the coldest places ranking one day, then the second day, then the third… Three settlements located in the Siberian region of Yakutia, i.e. Yakutsk, Mirny and Tiksi, were always in TOP 10… and… I realized that Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk are not included in rat races at all.

Hmm. How come? Is it a trick so to give Canadian regions a little chance to enjoy the top “coldest” status? or must there be other or technical reasons, why Russia’s Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk were not listed in the chart?

So I wrote a message to a WX-Now founder with questions.

My inquiry to WX-Now:

“..Your Weather Extreme’s Coldest Places in the World is a great idea. Very often I see my city of Yakutsk in the top chart.

Would it be possible for you to include other coldest Siberian settlements, Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon? That would be more fare, I think, as they are more colder than Tiksi, Mirny and Yakutsk.”

The reply arrived on the next day. That was from David Braverman, WX-Now.

David Braverman wrote:

“Thanks for writing.

We get our information from free sources published by the U.S. government. They, in turn, get free information from foreign governments, such as the Russian Federation. It’s therefore up to the Russian government what information we have available to us.

At the moment, it seems that the Russian government only has information for the city of Yakutsk in that area. If you search for other cities, you may find data from time to time.

I wish I had better news. In later versions of the software, we’ll be looking for more data sources to fill in those gaps.

Thanks again for your question.”

Disclaimer: David allowed to use his answer for the post. Thanks, David, your website is great!

So there are technical and permission issues that make impossible for coldest Siberian places to participate in the competition. That’s really pity.

If you are following WX-Now’s Coldest Places on Earth Chart, just keep doing it and know Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk are not in the list.

UPDATE:

OMG, Catalonians rock! Their coldest places on Earth rating at Ogimet.com (the full version) works now!

The full version of coldest places rating at Ogimet.com

Check the current rating of the world’s coldest places on Ogimet (full version). All possible and even not-expected settlements are included. Great work! Thanks, Jordi.

Antony Jinman on the way to the North Pole. Photo by Darcy St-Laurent, Antony's team mate.

Recently, Antony Jinman (www.antonyjinman.com), a UK Polar explorer, announced that he was looking forward to planning another North Pole project for 2012. Immediately, he’s got replies and the first question, that appeared to be great, indeed.

The question came from his friend, Regina Brinker, who said, “A student yesterday asked how a compass works at the north pole. Any noticeable change, or aren’t compasses used anymore?”

Antony replied:

“Every morning we checked our position on a GPS which also helps work out a bearing, we then use a compass during the day to guide us. We also aim off bearing to account for drift of the ice on the ocean, when we make camp we check the GPS again. You have to keep the compass warm and close to your body for warmth as the liquid in the housing gets very sticky and the needle is slow to move as a result. This is how we navigated to the Geographic North Pole 90′. If you went to the magnetic North Pole, when you reached there your compass would spin round. Hope that makes sense.”

“Also its fun to see how far you drift and in what direction whilst you sleep by comparing the two GPS positions, sometimes you can sit in your tent and watch your position changing as you drift. You don’t always drift in the right direction.”

Antony, thanks a lot for sharing such precious knowledge!

Antony Jinman is the founder of the Education Through Expeditions project. Follow the current expeditions at ETElive.org.

This year Philips has launched a pretty interesting experiment project. The company gave Philips Wake-up Lights to all residents of Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town, in order to see, if its clinically proven claim of ‘waking you up feeling refreshed’ is still true in the extremes of an arctic winter.

Longyearbyen is the centre of Svalbard on the western coast of Spitsberge and considered also as the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago in southern Adventfjorden.

Well, frankly saying, I have no idea of what cold weather extremes they’ve got in Longyearbyen, but apparently they experience the same lack of sun lights in winter as Yakutia’s Arctic settlement of Tiksi… in the course of four long months. So it is worth to follow the project via its facebook fan page or Flickr pool.

By the way, enjoy more fantastic Longyearbyen pictures!

What’s so special about this jacket? Please, read further about it. I would like to know your opinions.

I am trying to be serious and not to laugh until my cries. I just know that local villagers, especially the resident of Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk, will do that. Everytime when they see freezing strangers wrapped up in their ultra warm clothes, they love repeating “There is nothing better than fur clothes.”

So… Let’s read.

Joanne Richard writes “No need to come in from the cold or the freezing hockey arena. With the flip of a switch — just like those heavenly heated seats in a car — I’m warm all over and totally loving it thanks to Mountain Hardwear outerwear.”

“It’s prewired to provide heat and, get this, power your electronics too! And even charge them up.”

“From body core to core gadgets you can’t live without, this advanced snow-sports jacket keeps you connected and totally toasty with integrated heating panels running through critical areas between the liner and shell of the jacket.”

“This hot little number lets you turn up the heat up to 37C in temperatures as low as -40C, or you can just sit back — let’s say on your daily commute — without the heat and power any one handheld device requiring less than 10 watts, including cell phones, iPods, GPS devices and even a light. A USB cable is included for charging.”

“The Radiance is comfy, well-made and really lightweight, even with the wiring and the battery pack packed in.”

“The flat lithium-ion battery is ergonomically designed, weighs less than a pound and slides easily and neatly into an integrated pocket in the upper back area of the jacket. When worn, I can feel the small pack, but it’s not heavy or uncomfortable at all.”

“Mountain Hardwear is definitely the king of the outdoors scene when it comes to innovation and design. There’s Radiance for women and Refugium for men, and both are powered by Ardica Technologies, generating 8.6 hours of heat on the low setting and three hours on the high setting.”

“Jackets come in black for men and black or white for women. Truthfully, white scares me since I’m a pill and attract spills but don’t fear — amazingly the jackets can be washed in cold water, with the pockets all completely zipped up and, of course, the battery removed.Throw it in the dryer on low.”

“Mountain Hardwear reports this is just the beginning for their plugged-in apparel — lots of new styles featuring this innovative technology are planned for 2010.”

Well, here is what I think.

First, it is interesting. I would love to check this gadget in Yakutia, the coldest Siberian region, when it will be, let’s say, below -50C.

Second, I am not sure batteries will last 8 hours as described, even when temperature will be equal to -40C even. If the heater stopped working, the gadget will become totally useless. What’s the advantage to pay “$270 for the jacket plus $160 for the Ardica power system and $60 for the Tech Connector Kit”?

Third, the real test (not bla-bla-bla) will show, who is right. A paid-story author or ordinary Siberian villagers