A Siberian town with the widest temperature swing on Earth
Verkhoyansk, Russia
Verkhoyansk has recorded winter lows near minus 68 Celsius and summer highs above 38 Celsius, an annual range unmatched anywhere on the planet.
Verkhoyansk is a small town in the Sakha Republic of Russia, founded in 1638 as a fort and later infamous as a Tsarist exile outpost. It sits along the Yana River deep in Siberia and holds one of the coldest recorded temperatures for a permanently inhabited place, minus 67.8 degrees Celsius, recorded in the early twentieth century, rivaled only by its neighbor Oymyakon. What makes Verkhoyansk truly extraordinary is not just its cold but its extreme continental climate: summers can bring temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius, giving the town the largest documented annual temperature range of any inhabited location on Earth, exceeding 100 degrees Celsius between record extremes. In 2020, Verkhoyansk made global headlines when it recorded 38 Celsius during a Siberian heatwave, a reading investigated by the World Meteorological Organization as a new Arctic Circle heat record. Today around 1,000 people live there, largely working in fur trapping, reindeer herding, and local trade.
A Town Built for Exile
Russian Cossacks founded Verkhoyansk as a fur-collecting outpost and fort in 1638. By the nineteenth century, the Tsarist government had turned it into a place of political exile, sending dissidents to endure its brutal winters as punishment, a practice that cemented the town's reputation as one of the most punishing places to live in the empire.
The Cold Pole Rivalry
Verkhoyansk and the nearby settlement of Oymyakon have long competed for the title of Northern Hemisphere's Pole of Cold. Verkhoyansk's minus 67.8 degrees Celsius reading from 1892 and 1933 measurements is often cited alongside Oymyakon's similar extremes, and both towns market themselves to cold-tourism travelers seeking to experience the coldest inhabited conditions on Earth.
A Record-Breaking Heatwave
In June 2020, amid an extended Siberian heatwave linked to climate change, Verkhoyansk recorded 38 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature ever verified north of the Arctic Circle. The World Meteorological Organization formally certified the reading in 2021, highlighting how quickly the Arctic region is warming compared to the rest of the planet.
Daily Life in Extremes
Residents adapt with practices refined over centuries: mercury thermometers fail in deep cold, so many rely on alcohol-based ones; vehicles run continuously in winter to prevent engines from freezing solid; and locals wear layered reindeer-skin clothing that outperforms most modern synthetic gear in the deepest cold.
Fun facts
- Verkhoyansk's temperature range between record extremes exceeds 100 degrees Celsius, the widest of any inhabited place.
- The town was historically used as a place of exile for political prisoners under the Russian Empire.
- Its 2020 heatwave reading of 38C was the first WMO-certified temperature that high recorded north of the Arctic Circle.
- Cars in Verkhoyansk are often left running all winter because engines can freeze solid if turned off.
- Despite the extreme cold, the town has permanent residents, unlike many other polar research outposts.
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Text on this page is original Terralocate editorial. Background facts compiled from the public sources listed above. Images via Wikimedia Commons under their respective licenses (typically CC BY-SA or public domain).