- published: 07 Jan 2015
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Oymyakon (Russian: Оймяко́н, Sakha: Өймөкөөн, Öymököön) is a rural locality (a selo) in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located along the Indigirka River, 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest of Tomtor on the Kolyma Highway. It is the coldest permanently inhabited area on Earth.
It is named after the Oymyakon River, whose name comes from the Even word kheium 'unfrozen patch of water; place where fish spend the winter.'
Oymyakon, population 472, is located in eastern Yakutia at an elevation of approximately 750 meters above sea level. At the village's high latitude, day length varies from 3 hours in December to 21 hours in the summer.
With an extreme subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification Dfd), Oymyakon is known as one of the candidates for the Northern Pole of Cold, the other being the town of Verkhoyansk. The ground there is permanently frozen (continuous permafrost).
In 1924, Russian scientist Sergey Obrychev registered the lowest temperature −71.2 °C (−96.2 °F). On February 6, 1933, a temperature of −67.7 °C (−89.9 °F) was recorded at Oymyakon's weather station. This is the lowest recorded temperature for any permanently inhabited location on Earth. It is also the lowest temperature recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. Only Antarctica has recorded lower official temperatures (the lowest being −89.2 °C (−129 °F) near the Russian station of Vostok). Conversely, Oymyakon on July 28, 2010 recorded a record high temperature of 34.6 °C (94 °F). The actual weather station is in a valley between Oymyakon and Tomtor. The station is at 750 metres (2,460 ft) and the surrounding mountains at 1,100 metres (3,610 ft), causing cold air to pool in the valley: in fact, recent studies show that winter temperatures in the area increase with altitude by as much as 10°C (18°F).