The Coldest Places on Earth to Live and Their Extremes

Have you ever been so cold that it felt like it went right through you? Well, there are a few of the coldest places on Earth where it’s incredibly chilly. The air itself appears to freeze your breath into ice instantly, and the ground appears to be a stunning, frosty masterpiece. These are the truly, deeply cold places on our planet. The energy of the sun, the pressure of the air, and how far they are from the warm locations all combine to make these environments extremely cold, beyond what living organisms can tolerate. Let’s explore the 10 coldest places on Earth and the reason behind that.

What are the 10 Coldest Places on Earth? 

Take a look at the planet’s deep freeze. This table introduces the 10 coldest places on Earth, telling you their rank, location, and the record low temperature they experience.

Rank	Coldest Places on Earth	Location	Temperature
1.	Vostok Station	Antarctica	-89.2 °C
2.	Dome Fuji	Antarctica	Around -80°C
3.	Plateau Station (Old)	Antarctica	-86.2 °C
4.	South Pole Station	Antarctica	-82.8 °C
5.	Denali (Mount McKinley)	North America	Less than -73 °C
6.	Oymyakon	Russia	-71.2 °C
7.	Verkhoyansk	Russia	-67.8 °C
8.	North Ice (Old)	Greenland	-66.1 °C
9.	Snag	North America	-63 °C
10.	Rogers Pass	North America	-56.7 °C

Where are the Coldest Places on Earth Located?

Let’s now explore why each of these places experiences such extremely cold temperatures and their location on the planet Earth.

1. Vostok Station, Antarctica

• The super cold here happens because of a few powerful things working together. First, it is situated at a high altitude of about 3,488 meters, which means the air is thin and does not hold onto heat very well. Second, it is situated inside the huge Antarctic ice sheet, and because of that, there is no possibility of any warmer air from the ocean.
• Vostok Station, Antarctica, is also very close to the South Geomagnetic Pole, which has a very long period of darkness in the winter, which means that a lot of the heat can escape into space, making it even colder.

2. Dome Fuji, Antarctica

• Just like Vostok, Dome Fuji is also situated at the high altitude of the Antarctic Plateau and far away from the coast. This is why it’s always incredibly freezing there.
• This place is surrounded by a huge amount of ice that makes it even colder. It bounces sunlight back into space instead of absorbing it, and it also lets any heat escape very easily.

3. Plateau Station, Antarctica (Decommissioned) 

• Just like its name suggests, Plateau Station was on a high, flat part of Antarctica. This meant it was constantly losing heat into the air.
• Being far from the coast and having big areas of still, super cold air build up over the middle of Antarctica also made it extremely and constantly cold there.

4. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica

• Even though the ice there is as thick as being at sea level, being right at the South Pole means it has six whole months of complete darkness in winter. This makes a lot of heat escape.
• Also, despite being summer, its far southern position keeps the sun low, preventing it from providing significant warmth.

5. Denali (Mount McKinley), Alaska, USA

• This place is also known as the coldest place on Earth. Denali has to face this intense cold just because it is situated at a high altitude. When we go higher, the air pressure goes down, and the air gets thinner and colder.
• Additionally, Denali is situated so far from the north that it has to face long and dark winters, and the freezing wind makes it feel dangerously cold.

6. Oymyakon, Russia

• Oymyakon is known as the coldest place on Earth. The Reason behind the harsh winter is its extreme continental climate. It is located way inside Siberia, which means no temperature regulation from the sea.
• In winter, big cold areas and heavy air sink down into the bowl-shaped area where the village is. This makes the intense cold last for a long time. The mountains around it also act like walls, trapping this cold air and making it even colder.

7. Verkhoyansk, Russia 

• Just like Oymyakon, Verkhoyansk has a very extreme continental climate. This means it has really long, severely cold winters and summers that are short and not very hot.
• Being located far inside Siberia, along with the way strong high-pressure weather systems form there in winter, causes extremely cold air to build up.

8. North Ice, Greenland (Decommissioned) 

• Being located on the huge Greenland Ice Sheet meant that North Pole Ice experienced the very intense cold that comes with big areas of ice in places far from the equator.
• Because it was on the massive Greenland Ice Sheet, North Ice had to deal with the super intense cold that you get with huge amounts of ice in areas that are very far north.

9. Snag, Yukon, Canada

• Snag got its record for being so cold in North America because it’s located far inside the continent, in the Yukon.
• Being far away from any warming effects of the ocean means it gets the full force of cold air coming from the Arctic, which can get stuck in the shape of the land there during winter.

10. Rogers Pass, Montana, USA 

• The super low temperatures recorded at Rogers Pass are mainly because it’s located high up in the Rocky Mountains.
• Mountain passes can also act like pathways, squeezing and making cold air masses even stronger, which can cause the temperature to drop a lot sometimes.

The ten places we’ve looked at really show how powerful and different Earth’s weather can be. From the research bases in Antarctica that are always frozen to the towns in Siberia where people amazingly survive, these places have conditions most of us can’t even imagine. The reasons they’re so incredibly cold – being high up, far from oceans, close to the poles, and having special land features – show us how complicated the air and the land work together.

FAQs about the Coldest Places on Earth

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