This is the harshest place on our planet where people live permanently. There are about five hundred of them in the Yakut village. The main occupation of the local population is cattle breeding, reindeer husbandry and fishing. In summer, people go to the so-called. summer haymaking. Oymyakon has all the signs of civilization: there is a cellular connection, the Internet and an airport built during the war years. There is a hospital, schools - regular and music, a kindergarten, a club, a library, a gym, a bakery, a gas station and a shop. By the way, food prices in Oymyakon are higher than in the Russian capital: a loaf of bread, for example, costs 50 rubles.
Oymyakon's standing cold chills to the bone
The village is located at an altitude of 741 meters above sea level. In winter, very cold air flows into the Oymyakon valley. And although there is no wind here, the stagnant cold, as the locals say, penetrates right through.
The lowest temperature in the village was recorded in 1938: -77.8 degrees Celsius. Meteorologists and scientists have long argued which of the settlements in Yakutia is "colder" - Oymyakon or Verkhoyansk. The latest data is in favor of Oymyakon, where absolute annual lows are 3.5 degrees lower.
The difference between winter and summer temperatures here reaches 104 degrees. By the way, the highest summer temperature was recorded in 2010: +34.6 degrees Celsius.
However, for most of the year, Oymyakon is covered in snow. The permafrost prevents people from digging graves properly, and everyone prays that their loved ones will not die in winter.
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The shortest day in December lasts three hours here; summer is the time of white nights, when it is light all day long. This time of the year, in turn, is also characterized by a significant temperature drop: during the day it can reach +30 degrees, and at night it can drop below zero.
Babies in Oymyakon are dressed like a cabbage, leaving only their eyes open. At the same time, they can only walk on a sled, since it is very difficult for children to walk in their "hundred clothes". As for schoolchildren, primary school students stay at home at a temperature of -52 degrees, and at -56 degrees the whole school does not study anymore.
The adult population of Oymyakon dresses in down jackets and fur coats, fur hats and high boots made of reindeer skins. People are forced to put on two or three pairs of pants, socks, tights. A hat covering the forehead and a scarf raised to the bridge of the nose save the face from frostbite. However, there are cases when local beauties wore nylon tights in 50-degree frost and managed not to freeze.
Villagers have heated garages for cars; the driver warms up the engine for 10-15 minutes before leaving. If there is no garage, the engine is not turned off at all. Additional stoves are installed in the engine cabins, and they run on Arctic diesel fuel (diesel fuel and kerosene are mixed). Many drivers make a pipe with their own hands, with which they heat the fuel. Yakut truckers do not turn off the engines of their cars for months.
Nature and animals of Oymyakon
The nature of Oymyakon is beautiful and unique: there are streams that do not freeze in 70-degree frost, and ice that does not melt in 30-degree heat.
Of all the Oymyakon animals, only horses, dogs and, of course, reindeer are able to endure the winter cold. Cows from a warm barn are released at a temperature not lower than -30 degrees, while special warm bras are put on their udders. In winter, cats are not allowed out into the street at all, and if some extreme woman rushes out of the house herself, she is guaranteed frostbite. As for the dogs, they are taken home or allowed into the garage on particularly cold days. The rest of the time these animals spend on the street.
Today, many tourists come to Oymyakon - Russian travelers and foreigners. Among the local attractions are the preserved buildings of the Gulag camps, the museum, the Labynkyr lake and the Moltan rock, steeped in secrets and legends, and, of course, the local frosts themselves. Every spring, the village hosts a festival called "Oymyakon - Pole of Cold", and then here you can see many Santa Clauses who have come together from different countries of the world.
Victoria Prime