If you are one of the people who are complaining right now that it is cold,wherever in the world you may be,take a minute and try to imagine what it really feels like to be COLD!
The city of Yakutsk. Located six time zones from the Russian capital, 280 miles south of the of the Arctic Circle, and with an average winter temperature of just below -40C, it can
(un)comfortably claim the title Coldest City on Earth.
(un)comfortably claim the title Coldest City on Earth.
The swing in temperature between seasons is extreme, as it is not unusual for summer days to bask in 25C of glorious sunshine, only for the winter months to plunge 60 degrees - or more.
The record low for Yakutsk was an unbearable February day when the mercury hit -64.4C, however today, the city experienced a 'mere' -49C.
The ground underneath it is permanently frozen, making tall buildings difficult, and any major building project risky, as nearly everything has to be built on concrete piles above ground.
Despite the deterring conditions - forget snow days, schools only close if the temperature drops below -52C - it is home to 270,000 people, a quarter of the entire population of Siberia.
Covered up: A young student poses for a portrait at a bus station in Yakutsk, where it is an average winter day when the mercury drops to below -42C degrees and considered a "cold day" when it is -55C outside
Hansel's home: This house in Yakutsk looks more like an iced gingerbread house ready for Christmas Day than a real-life home
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Fro-no: A guard dog with a face covered in frost, and a local woman rings in a cloud of cold mist as she enters Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Yakutsk
Walk quickly: A woman crossed the road near the central square of Yakutsk on a -51C degree day, a statue of Lenin in the background nearly engulfed in frozen mist