6 Coldest Places This Time of Year

Cold winters mean different things to different people. For many of us, winter means wrapping up with a few extra layers, whether that’s a scarf, hat, and gloves or merely a warm jacket. But for people living in some cities and towns, spending a long time outside can be a health risk.

Let’s take a look at some of the coldest places on earth at this time of year.

1. Oymyakon, Sakha Republic, Russia

Oymyakon has earned the title of the coldest inhabitable city on Earth. With (unsurprisingly) only 500 inhabitants, Oymyakon’s average January temperatures hover around -58 °F. In January 1924, temperatures plummeted to a very chilly -96.16 degrees °F.

2. Harbin, China

Located in the north-east of China near the border with Russia, Harbin’s impressive Snow and Ice Festival has drawn travelers from around the world since 1985. But travelers have to wrap up warm if they visit the spectacular ice sculptures, as the average nightly low temperature is -11°F. It warms up slightly during the day with average daily high temperatures of 9°F.

3. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Ulaanbaatar is Mongolia’s capital city with a population that has grown from 500,000 to more than 1.3 million over the past 15 years and a freezing place to be in January. It holds the record as the coldest capital city in the world. In January 2015, temperatures plummeted to -41 °F, and the lowest temperature recorded in Ulaanbaatar is -86.8 °F.

4. Astana, Kazakhstan

Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan, a country the size of Western Europe where wolves outnumber people and shopping centers are designed by renowned architects such as Norman Foster. Despite having an artificial beach, with sand specially imported from the Maldives, Astana also has an average January temperature of 6.4 °F and has recorded extreme lows of -61 °F. Its river is typically frozen from mid-November to early April.

5. International Falls, Minnesota

Closer to home, International Falls in Minnesota has earned itself the nickname of “Icebox of the Nation” in 1989. International Falls has long, bitterly cold winters and warm and humid summers with average January highs of 15.4 °F and lows of 6.6 °F. It also has 109.4 days per year with high temperatures below freezing (32 °F/0 °C) –– which is the most days of anywhere in the US –– and has recorded lows of -55 °F.

6. Fraser, Colorado

It would be wrong to talk about “Icebox of the Nation” without mentioning Fraser’s small tow in Colorado. It has long been in a trademark dispute with International Falls over the right to use the name. Fraser has an average high of 28.5 °F and an average low of -5.4°F in January. Brrr, that sounds cold.