As temperatures sunk to minus 50C and below, schools and kindergartens were closed for the world's hardiest children.
Bitterly cold - but absolutely stunning winter in Yakutia. Picture: Planet Yakutia
The coldest recorded temperature on Thursday was at Borogontsy in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) which sank to minus 53C. Many children were ordered to stay home.
Yet this is still too warm for the official school closing temperature in Oymyakon - the world's coldest inhabited place - of minus 56C for schoolchildren. Kindergartens shut at minus 52C. Heavy frosts claimed the lives of two elderly people who died of frostbite in Khabarovsk.
Thirty residential blocks were left without heating in Vladivostok on Thursday morning. The city, prone to harsh winds, extended school holidays until 14 January. Five days of exceptionally cold weather is expected in Eastern Siberia and the Far East.
Archeologists discovered a new stone bracelet, two sharp pins, a marble ring and fox tooth pendants.
Comments (2)
Move to Tucson. The coldest that we have been over the past 40 years was -7°C = 20°F.
However, we can get up to 47°C = 117°F in June.
Seldom quite that hot, But we have gone 33 days where the high temps. were always above 38°C = 100°F. Too HOT.