Yakutsk is a Russian port city on the Lena River, in east Siberia. It’s home to the Mammoth Museum, with millennia-old fossils of woolly mammoths. The Melnikov Permafrost Institute Underground Laboratory has a tunnel showcasing fossils, including a mammoth calf, in below-freezing temperatures. The region stands as a testament to human resilience in the face of extreme cold.
With winter temperatures plummeting to a bone-chilling -62.7°C, life in this city of nearly 350,000 inhabitants is a daily battle against the elements. Here, the air is so frigid that anything left outside freezes in seconds, from fish in the markets to the very air one breathes.
To survive, locals keep their cars running continuously to prevent them from freezing solid within minutes.
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Despite the harsh conditions, the people of Yakutsk have adapted ingeniously to their environment. They benefit from their shorter stature, losing less body heat than taller individuals, making them more resilient to the cold. Their resourcefulness extends to daily tasks like obtaining drinking water, where ice from the river is melted for consumption, eliminating the need for freezers.
Moreover, the frozen landscape offers unique advantages; food preservation is simplified as the icy air preserves items naturally.
In Yakutsk, where winter reigns for much of the year, life is a delicate dance with nature’s extremes. Yet, amidst the challenges, the city thrives with a vibrant community that has learned to embrace and even celebrate the unparalleled cold that defines their home.