Just dress warmly and it's okay. You put your phone in an inner pocket, or it will freeze. You switch out metal-framed glasses for plastic ones, or take them off altogether. By the way, after being outside, your glasses fog up heavily indoors. :D
My favourite is how the snow sounds different at different temperatures. I can hear the snow in this picture and the squeak of really cold, dry snow is my favourite.
Buddy, if my phone made of metal and glass and silicon can't handle these temps... Im gonna go ahead and say that my body made of mostly water doesnt need to be out there either.
The pipes are heavily insulated. By the way, they often run above ground, which is why our city is sometimes called 'the city with its guts on the outside'.
Yeah it would be madness to lay them underground because of the temperature shifts. The yearly cycle of ground freezing and thawing would constantly shift the pipes and break them.
A massive water pipe burst near us two winters ago (Finland) because the insulation had degraded and and the freezing ground exerted such a pressure on the spot where the heat leaked through that the pipe was pushed off it's joint. Turned the few blocks around into a nice ice rink overnight.
Yes. But they require serious taking care of. Can’t just leave them outside or all the shit sort of breaks when you try to start it. Like even just opening the door on a fully freezed car will most likely rip the handle off.
Oil gets too thick and starter struggles. Need to have a heater
They have to keep them indoors or use warming tents with heaters inside or they simply don’t use the car during the winter.
So yes and no i guess
Car parts do break easily at these temps, but definitely not as easily as described, although maybe that depends on the country. You put heaters on your oil pan, battery blanket or trickle charger, and that gets plugged in, like a hybrid, just not exactly, just to a regular extension cord. The extension cord barely bends, so it's a circus act getting that in your car to plug in at your next stop. There are headbolt heaters to plug into in towns, places of work, and usually at home. You use thinner oil, non-diluted antifreeze. It's not perfect, it takes time to heat up , and yes, things break, but it's shocking how well average cars do at these temps. Now, you definitely want gloves on before you grab that door handle!
Wool and furs. Reindeer fur is popular for a lot of populations above the arctic circle as it is dense and warm, and the leather side helps to keep out the wind, which can be a problem with woven materials. Goose down lined items can be good too, though they are more costly. Mostly you try to stay indoors as much as you can and minimize your time outside.
I used to work at a ski resort, nowhere near these temps but sometimes I’d have to be outside in -15°C with the wind chill somewhere around -25°C. It’s all about the layers.
Inner layers- wool, synthetic blends, NOT cotton. On the off chance you sweat, you want the moisture to be wicked away instead of making you colder.
Outer layers- needs to be waterproof as fuck. Thick and dense materials for keeping the wind chill out.
Mid layers- varies. If it’s going to be dry, you can get away with some cotton sweatshirts and stuff like that in between. If it’s wet, you probably want more water resistant fibers. Mostly just whatever works.
Theoretically, your outer shell should keep all external moisture out. Your inner layer should keep any sweat off your body but still be warm. The mid layers are just extra insulation.
When it’s that cold, for my legs I’d usually wear thick full length compression underwear, and then synthetic blend sweatpants, with my ski pants on top. Wool socks and snowmobiling boots with thick removable liners, those boots are amazing.
And then I’d have a thermal compression top, and then a long sleeve wool shirt, and then a small sweatshirt, followed by a bigger sweatshirt, and finally my waterproof jacket.
Also- one pair of gloves is not enough. You need liners. Bonus points if you have extra of both in case they get wet.
If you get wet, get dry. If you can’t get dry, get to safety immediately. If you can’t get to safety, curl up and die.
You need wool or some other animal fiber. Wool stays warm when wet bc of the structure of the hairs so it’s ideal for a coat. If you can get a New Zealand “possumerino” scarf and hat that’d be perfect since it’s the 3rd warmest fiber on earth and does their environment a favor.
Edit: and if you have the money, qiviut (shed muskox hair) and eiderdown are the absolute kings of cruelty free cold protection. Millions of years of evolution beats 20 years of brand history
And that's still warm. In about three weeks, Yakutia will begin a period of extreme lows, ranging from -60 to -75 degrees Celsius.
For example, at the same time, Australia will be around +40 degrees Celsius. So, if you fly from Sydney to Yakutsk on January 7th, the acclimatization process will be insane due to the 100-110 degree Celsius difference.
Oh, absolutely. I think he was mostly responding to the poster who said he lives in TX and cant even imagine 25degrees Fahrenheit when It regularly gets colder than that every single year in Texas. Of course, that’s nothing in comparison to those sub zero temps. Just seemed weird seeing someone say they couldn’t imagine a temp because they live in TX, when I woke up in TX to lower than that temp this morning. lol
I have Yakutsk as one of the cities on my weather app just to remind myself that it’s not so bad wherever I am. Love hearing from the people there! Stay warm!
man i spend so much time on google earth just looking at all that land over in that area. i scrolled past your city a few days ago, crazy how much untouched land is out there. what is even going on in those parts of the world other than bears?
i'm sure the bears are having a great social life, there must be bear schools, bear pubs, bear malls, and lots of bear parties. sucks to not be a bear.
PS. those who were not invited to bear parties will deny and downvote this
This is a great video, but it's about life in a village, I think Oymyakon, about 700 km away. Her channel has other videos of what life is like in the city of Yakutsk
Thanks to the YouTube algorithms, I watched a video Sunday about what it’s like to live in Yakutsk at -64°C. Even in Ottawa we get nowhere near that cold.
I was born here, I have friends and family here. Even though Yakutia is part of the Russian Federation, we feel like outsiders in other cities of Russia.
Serious question now, what would happen if a gas pipeline was destroyed or if it was just too expensive? Would you manage by just chopping trees around you?
It will be a terrible catastrophe. But our ancestors managed to live on wood fuel somehow, and even in many villages around here, people still heat their stoves with wood. But our city is not adapted for this. Most likely, they will try to adapt the city's boiler houses to coal; coal used to be mined nearby once upon a time.
Do you have a fur coat? I just recently watched a daily life type of video on youtube about Yakutsk, and they said as expensive as they are, it's the best way to stay warm and many people save up for them for years to get their own.
Hey! Sorry to bother you with question because you probably get a lot of them here in replies, but that place has always seemed so interesting to me so I would like to ask you, how is live overall there for you? Is it easy to travel out of town (and do you do it often?), how do you commute and how is work in this region? :D
Thank you for the question. Generally speaking, my life is okay, though food prices here are much higher than in the central regions of the country. I don't really go out of town much; I’m a real homebody and a city person. In the summer, we go for a swim in the Lena River, sometimes we fish or have barbecues there. By the way, the city isn't that beautiful in the summer because it gets very dusty and quite dirty. Most of the jobs here are in administration or commerce; there are no mining companies or large factories. I work at the airport servicing aircraft outside in the freezing cold during winter, by the way. I get around by public transport
Actually, there's a lot of difference between -30° and -40°. At first glance, -30°F and -40°F sound basically the same (and they really don't feel too terribly much different when you're out in it), but in reality, -40°F is a hard threshold where the world stops “working poorly” and starts “not working at all.” The air at -40 can barely hold any moisture, so ice crystals form constantly and you'll start seeing phenomena known as "diamond dust" and "ice fog", sound carries for miles, and even your breath freezes and sinks to the ground as you exhale. Materials hit real limits here too: oils and greases turn solid, rubber and plastics become brittle, metals are more likely to crack instead of flex, and many systems that still limp along at -30 simply fail outright. It’s also the freeze point of Jet-A fuel, which is why aviation, heavy equipment, and diesel engines treat -40 as a red-line temperature rather than “just colder.”
From a human and biological perspective, -40°F is also where survival math changes fast. Exposed skin can frostbite in minutes (or seconds on metal), breathing dry air can damage lungs, and calorie burn skyrockets while dehydration sneaks up on you. Engines aren’t really “started” anymore - they’re kept running - firearms and machinery need special dry or arctic setups and lubricants, and even Arctic wildlife drastically reduces movement to conserve heat. At -30° you can still fight the cold with preparation; at -40°f you have to respect physics and work around it, because the margin for error basically disappears.
I was wondering why this even mattered who the heck is dealing with -50! Like minus 20 sure. And then I learned about Yatkutsk. basically a Witchita Kansas sized city where this level of cold is to be expected.
Interestingly though there comes a change in humidity where the visibility suddenly becomes absolutely crystal clear to the point that you could see all the way to the Ice Walls that surround the flat earth
Not really. We get -50 in Winnipeg occasionally and when we do it's usually sunny and clear skies. Folks new to the city have trouble getting used to the idea that in winter clear skies usually means it's really cold out.
To me as Finnish this looks like just below zero. Usually the colder it gets the clearer it is. A clear sky lets the thermal radiation escape to space and otherwise it doesn’t get very cold here. Something like -25C is the coldest which can expected here and those days are always very clear.
I've been in Minnesota at about -35 degrees (C or F, take your pick) and it looked clear. :) That's as cold as I remember it being here as the non-adjusted temp.
I went to school in -40 a few times. Had to wear a full face covering plus a ski mask. My jacket started making a crunching sound as the fibers were wound so tight.
I remember -20 in Colorado one year and throwing water in the sky and it instantly turned to snow. If you peed on the ground it would be ice immediately. Walking to school my synthetic leather off brand sneakers were like bricks because the material was frozen solid. Don't know how I tolerated that, I can barely leave the house at +20 degrees now. Ed: degrees in F, apologies.
Likewise in northern(ish) Finland 25-30 years ago, it was a thing every winter. Now we'll get maybe a couple of days like that per year if we're lucky.
On the bus lol. Canadian and grew up where -40 was pretty common, -50 is when they wouldn’t run busses, only happened a few times in my entire childhood, and school was still open just optional
I listen to the Woody & Wilcox morning radio show, based in Charlotte NC, but they moved there from Alaska 15 years ago.
And a couple months ago, they were laughing about schools in the Charlotte area being delayed due to fog, when, as Woody said, in Alaska kids are standing outside waiting for the bus when it's -20F.
Friends who used balaclavas in such weather swore they were super uncomfortable because they would get wet and freeze from your own breath. I just used to use a scarf, tbh.
Nah, they stick, but they pop back open. Same with nostrils. They'll stick together when you breathe in, but they pop back open. It's an interesting feeling.
In the mountains we had special mountaineering goggles. I would definitely recommend that if you have sensitive skin and eyes. Mine were very itchy the next week after enduring such low temperatures
Worked in a place where the freezer was like -20 or more. The freezer guys where only allowed to work for 30 min at a pop and would come out with their ski mask frozen from their own breath. Only worked in the freezer twice while working there and both were in the warmer part that was only like -5 and that was unpleasant so -40 is too hellish to even imagine.
I'm Canadian. Here -20 is unpleasant, but basically business as usual, everything is open, downtown is busy. But after -30 it gets serious, we get government warnings and people avoid going out unless they absolutely have to. At those temperatures, you can lose ears/nose/fingers real quick if exposed. -40 is not common, but when it happens schools and many businesses close. Getting stuck outside is dangerous unless you are very well prepared. Obviously anything exposed to air hurts, badly.
Ah, a fellow great lakes person perhaps. I worked outside at a Costco gas station in January where it was -40 for like two weeks straight. I think that was 2014 or 2015. Damn polar vortex shit.
The ground does not freeze that far, several feet. So if a well it is often in a well pit that is covered to not freeze. In house on super cold snaps many leave their water trickling to keep the cold sneaking in. Some areas prone to freezing people put these strips that are tied around pipes that use electricity to heat them. And otherwise those insulation sleeves over the pipes.
Our water pipes are run below the frost line, which where I am is about 1.8M (6'). It does affect things like inline water heaters though, since our water needs to be heated from near freezing, so our water heaters need more BTUs generally to get the same temp out of the faucet.
Eyeballs start to freeze? Lord! I remember one time I was still doing stablework in -43°, couldn't leave the poor horses unfed. Honestly, it didn't differ too much from the usual -30°, just water started freezing mid air. No eyeballs freezing, could be the lack of wind.
Yup. We get 5-10 days of -40C temps here and I used to walk to work in it. You'd hear me coming once I got to the office because my snow pants would make the "swish swish" sound when I walked in.
I was out in -50°F once (windchill was -70°F apparently), it was pretty chilly. Then a couple of weeks later I was at the hospital for an appointment and I was sat next to a guy who's fingers were all completely black. A physical therapist came over and said "Honey, you have to try to move the base of them today because we're cutting all of them off tomorrow and I want you to have some movement in what's left."
After she was gone I asked him what happened. He said he had a dope addiction and went out in the -50°F looking for a dealer, but there were no dealers out. He said he was outside for about 8 hours walking around and when he got home he realized there was something wrong with his hands😭
It's a bit cathartic having cold temps in Chicago right now after the extremely mild winters of recent years. Been walking to work like normal. I like it
Cheater list, only counts cities with 100k people.
That said we had a couple days last week in whitehorse that looked like these Russian pics. It was only -35 though. Apparently going to go back to the -30s this next week too.
Ahh fuck. Just checked the forecast. Snowfall warning. We went from snowfall, to cold, and right back to snowfall. I still haven't cleared my car off.
That’s the worst. The benefits of super cold is no new snow.
This bit of warming up enough to dump more snow then going back to -30 sucks. I can live with nice clear blue skies and -30, you just have to dress for it.
Having to scrape the car and shovel and deal with -30 is brutal.
At that point are you really going to feel the difference (-58-50°F, -50-45°C)? Genuinely asking, I'm in Australia and the lowest I've experienced is about -10°C or so
I see this everywhere and I'm now immediately suspicious that it's a linguistic issue for people who learn English when their main language is Russian.
I've felt -15...I walked outside with a drink and ice started forming on the top within 30 seconds. My eyes watered and nostrils burned. It was not pleasant. I hope I never have to feel -50 lol
Ex-civil aviation mechanic from Siberia here. Yes, we worked in temperaures like that. Coldest day in airport I remeber was -44 C at night. You really need layered clothing and movement, but it isn't that bad, as there's practically no wind in such temperatures.
It is a quite normal weather in our place - just a week ago we've lived through a week of -35. It's back to -5 again with snowfalls and winds.
You should understand - we are ready for such weather. With winter clothing (I mean real winter clothing for subzero temperatures) standing outside is merely unpleasant, not dangerous. Add centralised heating to it - I open up windows to ventilate my flat and It's still very warm inside.
Hmm that's cool for certain. Not as important but I work in food and have to go to work still even in the negative temperatures we're getting right now 😭 stay warm out there playas and playettes!
All the employees are working, the children are in school. Life in these parts doesn't stop in this kind of weather. I haven't lived in Siberia for a long time, but I remember going to a rehearsal for a Christmas play in -47°C. There I found out the rehearsal was canceled, so I went home. Cell phones didn't exist back then.
I live in Yakutsk. Today -42 Celsius
Damn i cant even image going to work when its so cold,and i live in Poland when the coldest days are max -10°
Just dress warmly and it's okay. You put your phone in an inner pocket, or it will freeze. You switch out metal-framed glasses for plastic ones, or take them off altogether. By the way, after being outside, your glasses fog up heavily indoors. :D
My favourite is how the snow sounds different at different temperatures. I can hear the snow in this picture and the squeak of really cold, dry snow is my favourite.
Crink crink crink vs cronch cronch cronch?
Thanks, now I want meringue.
Omg me too! Those actually sounds so good right now..! 😋
The styrofoam squeak hurts me.
Buddy, if my phone made of metal and glass and silicon can't handle these temps... Im gonna go ahead and say that my body made of mostly water doesnt need to be out there either.
Some places arent meant for humans, we just colonized it because we said fck it.
If it is a place that exists, we will try to go there 🙃
And then sometimes highly regret it 😂
How do the pipes work?
The pipes are heavily insulated. By the way, they often run above ground, which is why our city is sometimes called 'the city with its guts on the outside'.
Yeah it would be madness to lay them underground because of the temperature shifts. The yearly cycle of ground freezing and thawing would constantly shift the pipes and break them.
A massive water pipe burst near us two winters ago (Finland) because the insulation had degraded and and the freezing ground exerted such a pressure on the spot where the heat leaked through that the pipe was pushed off it's joint. Turned the few blocks around into a nice ice rink overnight.
Are cars a thing at these temperatures?
Yes. But they require serious taking care of. Can’t just leave them outside or all the shit sort of breaks when you try to start it. Like even just opening the door on a fully freezed car will most likely rip the handle off.
Oil gets too thick and starter struggles. Need to have a heater
They have to keep them indoors or use warming tents with heaters inside or they simply don’t use the car during the winter. So yes and no i guess
Car parts do break easily at these temps, but definitely not as easily as described, although maybe that depends on the country. You put heaters on your oil pan, battery blanket or trickle charger, and that gets plugged in, like a hybrid, just not exactly, just to a regular extension cord. The extension cord barely bends, so it's a circus act getting that in your car to plug in at your next stop. There are headbolt heaters to plug into in towns, places of work, and usually at home. You use thinner oil, non-diluted antifreeze. It's not perfect, it takes time to heat up , and yes, things break, but it's shocking how well average cars do at these temps. Now, you definitely want gloves on before you grab that door handle!
In some parts of Siberia they never turn off their car. They keep it running 24/7.
I didn’t realize this was possible. Trucks do idle a lot now that I think of it.
What are legit warm clothing? I know layering is some of it.
Wool and furs. Reindeer fur is popular for a lot of populations above the arctic circle as it is dense and warm, and the leather side helps to keep out the wind, which can be a problem with woven materials. Goose down lined items can be good too, though they are more costly. Mostly you try to stay indoors as much as you can and minimize your time outside.
I used to work at a ski resort, nowhere near these temps but sometimes I’d have to be outside in -15°C with the wind chill somewhere around -25°C. It’s all about the layers.
Inner layers- wool, synthetic blends, NOT cotton. On the off chance you sweat, you want the moisture to be wicked away instead of making you colder.
Outer layers- needs to be waterproof as fuck. Thick and dense materials for keeping the wind chill out.
Mid layers- varies. If it’s going to be dry, you can get away with some cotton sweatshirts and stuff like that in between. If it’s wet, you probably want more water resistant fibers. Mostly just whatever works.
Theoretically, your outer shell should keep all external moisture out. Your inner layer should keep any sweat off your body but still be warm. The mid layers are just extra insulation.
When it’s that cold, for my legs I’d usually wear thick full length compression underwear, and then synthetic blend sweatpants, with my ski pants on top. Wool socks and snowmobiling boots with thick removable liners, those boots are amazing.
And then I’d have a thermal compression top, and then a long sleeve wool shirt, and then a small sweatshirt, followed by a bigger sweatshirt, and finally my waterproof jacket.
Also- one pair of gloves is not enough. You need liners. Bonus points if you have extra of both in case they get wet.
If you get wet, get dry. If you can’t get dry, get to safety immediately. If you can’t get to safety, curl up and die.
You need wool or some other animal fiber. Wool stays warm when wet bc of the structure of the hairs so it’s ideal for a coat. If you can get a New Zealand “possumerino” scarf and hat that’d be perfect since it’s the 3rd warmest fiber on earth and does their environment a favor.
Edit: and if you have the money, qiviut (shed muskox hair) and eiderdown are the absolute kings of cruelty free cold protection. Millions of years of evolution beats 20 years of brand history
Bro, I'm in Texas and I can't imagine 25 degrees. I think I felt 19 degrees once, during a rare snowstorm.
And that's still warm. In about three weeks, Yakutia will begin a period of extreme lows, ranging from -60 to -75 degrees Celsius.
For example, at the same time, Australia will be around +40 degrees Celsius. So, if you fly from Sydney to Yakutsk on January 7th, the acclimatization process will be insane due to the 100-110 degree Celsius difference.
Oh, absolutely. I think he was mostly responding to the poster who said he lives in TX and cant even imagine 25degrees Fahrenheit when It regularly gets colder than that every single year in Texas. Of course, that’s nothing in comparison to those sub zero temps. Just seemed weird seeing someone say they couldn’t imagine a temp because they live in TX, when I woke up in TX to lower than that temp this morning. lol
20F when I left my house in Texas this morning…
Тепло
ну да, вчера было -45 утром, а вечером еще и ветер слегка поднялся
Из носа потекло
И сразу замёрзла
Ahh a fellow Warframe player
I have Yakutsk as one of the cities on my weather app just to remind myself that it’s not so bad wherever I am. Love hearing from the people there! Stay warm!
I do too. And Antarctica and Death Valley as well for that reason.
Fun fact: ‐40°C = -40°F. So if you are from the US and wondering what this feels like... the answer is still COLD.
man i spend so much time on google earth just looking at all that land over in that area. i scrolled past your city a few days ago, crazy how much untouched land is out there. what is even going on in those parts of the world other than bears?
i'm sure the bears are having a great social life, there must be bear schools, bear pubs, bear malls, and lots of bear parties. sucks to not be a bear.
PS. those who were not invited to bear parties will deny and downvote this
Saw more than one minin doc about your city, I found it fascinating what is just normal to you. It is a place I would like to see one day.
Do you have a link please
https://youtu.be/lj5GXZaE7qs?si=qM61ACQK5PpTFq9p
This is a great video, but it's about life in a village, I think Oymyakon, about 700 km away. Her channel has other videos of what life is like in the city of Yakutsk
Thank you!
Thanks to the YouTube algorithms, I watched a video Sunday about what it’s like to live in Yakutsk at -64°C. Even in Ottawa we get nowhere near that cold.
Serious question - not being dismissive or offensive - but why do you live there, assuming it's by choice?
I was born here, I have friends and family here. Even though Yakutia is part of the Russian Federation, we feel like outsiders in other cities of Russia.
Must be nice to have a walk in freezer.
Serious question now, what would happen if a gas pipeline was destroyed or if it was just too expensive? Would you manage by just chopping trees around you?
It will be a terrible catastrophe. But our ancestors managed to live on wood fuel somehow, and even in many villages around here, people still heat their stoves with wood. But our city is not adapted for this. Most likely, they will try to adapt the city's boiler houses to coal; coal used to be mined nearby once upon a time.
Do you have a fur coat? I just recently watched a daily life type of video on youtube about Yakutsk, and they said as expensive as they are, it's the best way to stay warm and many people save up for them for years to get their own.
No, I have a warm down jacket and padded pants with long johns. Lately, fewer and fewer people wear fur coats; mostly, it's older women.
I own 3 light jackets and 1 heavy jacket. I wear them for about 3 weeks in July.
As I type its nearly midnight and still 25°
"Honey can you grab the chicken out of the freezer to thaw? I really feel like having some Alfredo in 3 days."
You go in the freezer to warm up after coming in from -40.
Hey! Sorry to bother you with question because you probably get a lot of them here in replies, but that place has always seemed so interesting to me so I would like to ask you, how is live overall there for you? Is it easy to travel out of town (and do you do it often?), how do you commute and how is work in this region? :D
Thank you for the question. Generally speaking, my life is okay, though food prices here are much higher than in the central regions of the country. I don't really go out of town much; I’m a real homebody and a city person. In the summer, we go for a swim in the Lena River, sometimes we fish or have barbecues there. By the way, the city isn't that beautiful in the summer because it gets very dusty and quite dirty. Most of the jobs here are in administration or commerce; there are no mining companies or large factories. I work at the airport servicing aircraft outside in the freezing cold during winter, by the way. I get around by public transport
I’ve had Yakutsk saved in my weather app for fun for like a decade now. It never ceases to amaze me how unimaginably cold it gets there.
земляк
Do you have a few minutes in the freezer to warm up
Id say it rather looks like -47°
-45 even...what a fraud.
I dunno. With wind-chill, it's probably at least -49°
But the “feels like” temperature is -41 so it’s not that bad
I've experienced -41. It's no worse than -35.
Once you get below -30, what difference does it make? You were downvoted from someone who's never experienced below freezing.
Actually, there's a lot of difference between -30° and -40°. At first glance, -30°F and -40°F sound basically the same (and they really don't feel too terribly much different when you're out in it), but in reality, -40°F is a hard threshold where the world stops “working poorly” and starts “not working at all.” The air at -40 can barely hold any moisture, so ice crystals form constantly and you'll start seeing phenomena known as "diamond dust" and "ice fog", sound carries for miles, and even your breath freezes and sinks to the ground as you exhale. Materials hit real limits here too: oils and greases turn solid, rubber and plastics become brittle, metals are more likely to crack instead of flex, and many systems that still limp along at -30 simply fail outright. It’s also the freeze point of Jet-A fuel, which is why aviation, heavy equipment, and diesel engines treat -40 as a red-line temperature rather than “just colder.”
From a human and biological perspective, -40°F is also where survival math changes fast. Exposed skin can frostbite in minutes (or seconds on metal), breathing dry air can damage lungs, and calorie burn skyrockets while dehydration sneaks up on you. Engines aren’t really “started” anymore - they’re kept running - firearms and machinery need special dry or arctic setups and lubricants, and even Arctic wildlife drastically reduces movement to conserve heat. At -30° you can still fight the cold with preparation; at -40°f you have to respect physics and work around it, because the margin for error basically disappears.
I was wondering why this even mattered who the heck is dealing with -50! Like minus 20 sure. And then I learned about Yatkutsk. basically a Witchita Kansas sized city where this level of cold is to be expected.
I have worked in -60 in Wyoming. You spend more time indoors warming up than you do working.
Potato..potata
- the effects of drinking vodka +40. The sensations vary depending on the amount consumed.
That visibility screams way colder. Wind chill probably pushing it closer to -60°, everything just disappears into white.
Looks like someone took a white brush & painted the whole town.
[removed]
Interestingly though there comes a change in humidity where the visibility suddenly becomes absolutely crystal clear to the point that you could see all the way to the Ice Walls that surround the flat earth
100%
What -50 looks anywhere really
Not really. We get -50 in Winnipeg occasionally and when we do it's usually sunny and clear skies. Folks new to the city have trouble getting used to the idea that in winter clear skies usually means it's really cold out.
Inhale>>> cough ice!
That's why you should cover face
It's almost taste that slight bit of blood in my mouth just looking at this picture. Weather like this is hostile
Where I am (Canada), it’s -2C right now and looks like this. It also looked like this at -25C.
To me as Finnish this looks like just below zero. Usually the colder it gets the clearer it is. A clear sky lets the thermal radiation escape to space and otherwise it doesn’t get very cold here. Something like -25C is the coldest which can expected here and those days are always very clear.
I've been in Minnesota at about -35 degrees (C or F, take your pick) and it looked clear. :) That's as cold as I remember it being here as the non-adjusted temp.
Can not even imagine. So so harsh.
I have been in -40 in the us mainland here. Your eyeballs start to freeze, your nostrils too.
I went to school in -40 a few times. Had to wear a full face covering plus a ski mask. My jacket started making a crunching sound as the fibers were wound so tight.
I remember -20 in Colorado one year and throwing water in the sky and it instantly turned to snow. If you peed on the ground it would be ice immediately. Walking to school my synthetic leather off brand sneakers were like bricks because the material was frozen solid. Don't know how I tolerated that, I can barely leave the house at +20 degrees now. Ed: degrees in F, apologies.
It’s been -3 the last two days in the Midwest, now it’s 26 and I’ve got both windows open. Really warps one’s perspective of what’s comfortable.
Was it up hill both ways?
Hills? Back in those days we had proper mountains...
and we had to boil water in our bare hands…
My dad doesn’t have reddit!
Likewise in northern(ish) Finland 25-30 years ago, it was a thing every winter. Now we'll get maybe a couple of days like that per year if we're lucky.
Why is that lucky?
Because if they didn't get it at all it means climate change would be even worse.
As someone who lives in the sub tropics that is literally incomprehensible to me.
I live in Canada, going to school in -40 is incomprehensible to me. No idea how any of the bus kids would get to school
On the bus lol. Canadian and grew up where -40 was pretty common, -50 is when they wouldn’t run busses, only happened a few times in my entire childhood, and school was still open just optional
ah the one temp where it does not matter if its Fahrenheit or celsius
I came to this thread specifically to ensure that this fact was mentioned. Thank you for your service.
I listen to the Woody & Wilcox morning radio show, based in Charlotte NC, but they moved there from Alaska 15 years ago.
And a couple months ago, they were laughing about schools in the Charlotte area being delayed due to fog, when, as Woody said, in Alaska kids are standing outside waiting for the bus when it's -20F.
Do you have to wear head gear for those temperatures?
I just had a regular like knitted cap, but if outside for extended periods you would probably want a baclava.
The eyes are fine getting cold, at least to a point.
Baklava would be way too hard to eat at that temperature.
The thought of eating a baklava keeps you warm
That would be perfect after getting home and taking off your balaclava
You nut
My grandma is an incredible baker and makes the best balaclava.
Friends who used balaclavas in such weather swore they were super uncomfortable because they would get wet and freeze from your own breath. I just used to use a scarf, tbh.
your eye lids can freeze shut
I've felt it start to happen, but never to the point my eye lid couldn't break it.
My eyes start watering when it's 0°C. So in -40° i'd probably have my eye lids permanently closed in a matter of seconds...
Nah, they stick, but they pop back open. Same with nostrils. They'll stick together when you breathe in, but they pop back open. It's an interesting feeling.
These are more popular in hot climates, no?
In the mountains we had special mountaineering goggles. I would definitely recommend that if you have sensitive skin and eyes. Mine were very itchy the next week after enduring such low temperatures
as someone who lived in far north canada, for extended periods yeah you kinda have to
Worked in a place where the freezer was like -20 or more. The freezer guys where only allowed to work for 30 min at a pop and would come out with their ski mask frozen from their own breath. Only worked in the freezer twice while working there and both were in the warmer part that was only like -5 and that was unpleasant so -40 is too hellish to even imagine.
I'm Canadian. Here -20 is unpleasant, but basically business as usual, everything is open, downtown is busy. But after -30 it gets serious, we get government warnings and people avoid going out unless they absolutely have to. At those temperatures, you can lose ears/nose/fingers real quick if exposed. -40 is not common, but when it happens schools and many businesses close. Getting stuck outside is dangerous unless you are very well prepared. Obviously anything exposed to air hurts, badly.
I loved that feeling when you inhale through your nose and can feel the moisture and your nasal passage freeze all the way down.
Then I decided the professors probably wouldn't say anything too important in class that day and I went back inside.
it gets so cold in the Midwest, that you get brain freeze from the wind
Ah, a fellow great lakes person perhaps. I worked outside at a Costco gas station in January where it was -40 for like two weeks straight. I think that was 2014 or 2015. Damn polar vortex shit.
How does water supply work so far below freezing?
The ground does not freeze that far, several feet. So if a well it is often in a well pit that is covered to not freeze. In house on super cold snaps many leave their water trickling to keep the cold sneaking in. Some areas prone to freezing people put these strips that are tied around pipes that use electricity to heat them. And otherwise those insulation sleeves over the pipes.
Our water pipes are run below the frost line, which where I am is about 1.8M (6'). It does affect things like inline water heaters though, since our water needs to be heated from near freezing, so our water heaters need more BTUs generally to get the same temp out of the faucet.
This comment made me fucking shudder oh my fuck
Worst ive been is -32 one winter here and that was already rough. 40 and 50 sound mythical.
Eyeballs start to freeze? Lord! I remember one time I was still doing stablework in -43°, couldn't leave the poor horses unfed. Honestly, it didn't differ too much from the usual -30°, just water started freezing mid air. No eyeballs freezing, could be the lack of wind.
Yup. We get 5-10 days of -40C temps here and I used to walk to work in it. You'd hear me coming once I got to the office because my snow pants would make the "swish swish" sound when I walked in.
I was out in -50°F once (windchill was -70°F apparently), it was pretty chilly. Then a couple of weeks later I was at the hospital for an appointment and I was sat next to a guy who's fingers were all completely black. A physical therapist came over and said "Honey, you have to try to move the base of them today because we're cutting all of them off tomorrow and I want you to have some movement in what's left."
After she was gone I asked him what happened. He said he had a dope addiction and went out in the -50°F looking for a dealer, but there were no dealers out. He said he was outside for about 8 hours walking around and when he got home he realized there was something wrong with his hands😭
Except there aren't any people or obligations. You're free in the Ice, my son.
These pictures were probably taken in Yakutia (the Republic of Sakha), in case anyone's wondering. That's exactly the temperature there right now
exactly
It looks white
First picture looks likre the Hot Fuss album by The Killers
Silent Chill
Moscow is warmer than Chicago right now
Had to look it up because I was wondering what Chicago was as of tonight. It’s 7 degrees and -6 with windchill. That’s -21 celsius!
It's a bit cathartic having cold temps in Chicago right now after the extremely mild winters of recent years. Been walking to work like normal. I like it
Moscow is all of Russia?
And all of USA is Manhattan + LA (Hollywood and Skid Row only) + a stretch of an interstate somewhere in Arizona.
I love getting my geography knowledge from the cars movies
I love watching YouTube vids about life in Yakutsk.
That’s canada mate
Yeah I've seen -50 in Alberta and it was as clear as 20 degrees
-50 and -30 feel pretty much the same as long as its dry imo. Fuck -10 near the the ocean feels colder sometimes.
A detailed breakdown of everything to do with Cold Weather in Canada.
Cheater list, only counts cities with 100k people.
That said we had a couple days last week in whitehorse that looked like these Russian pics. It was only -35 though. Apparently going to go back to the -30s this next week too.
Ahh fuck. Just checked the forecast. Snowfall warning. We went from snowfall, to cold, and right back to snowfall. I still haven't cleared my car off.
Winnipegger here.
That’s the worst. The benefits of super cold is no new snow.
This bit of warming up enough to dump more snow then going back to -30 sucks. I can live with nice clear blue skies and -30, you just have to dress for it.
Having to scrape the car and shovel and deal with -30 is brutal.
How it looks/what it looks like
This is such a common grammar mistake but I don’t understand why. I see it everywhere! Is it from a show or something??
No, it's just a mix of English as a second language and poor English education for even primary English speakers.
In short: everyone dumb
It's colder inside putin's heart
"We don't need Russian cold, we have -50°F at home." - Minnesotan Mother
Celsius or Fahrenheit?
C = - 45°
F = - 49°
I'm not sure what to make of this. Can you give it to me as either colder or warmer than a Witch's Tit?
It's somewhere between a witch's tit and a yeti's ballsack.
Celsius
So very cold
-50 Celsius and -50 Fahrenheit are almost same things actually
Ya true. It's close. They are equal at -40 They intersect at -40
But either way it's probably in celsius still. For F it would be -58 if C is -50
At that point are you really going to feel the difference (-58-50°F, -50-45°C)? Genuinely asking, I'm in Australia and the lowest I've experienced is about -10°C or so
Celsius if russian but they are similar in that range, -40 is where they are the same. Where the lines intersect if graphed.
I was gonna say “OP should have picked -40 so we wouldn’t have to ask!”
My balls shrank in response to those pictures.
How do you see temperature? Do I have to sort of cross my eyes?
Is the town where the cars are always running?
Maybe, or maybe not, you see, there's quite a lot of space in Siberia
This is what it looks like
Or 'how it looks', but I feel like this is an uphill battle anyway.
I see this everywhere and I'm now immediately suspicious that it's a linguistic issue for people who learn English when their main language is Russian.
Thankful everyday that im not russian.
We all are, for various reasons
The coldest I’ve ever felt was 7 degrees Fahrenheit. That was cold! Can’t imagine 50 below.
I've felt -15...I walked outside with a drink and ice started forming on the top within 30 seconds. My eyes watered and nostrils burned. It was not pleasant. I hope I never have to feel -50 lol
I can say with absolute certainty that this picture is as close to that temperature I will ever get......
It hides the potholes, so there's that
I assume that -50° looks like that in most places
It is missing the glare of the explosion in the electric power station LOL
I was in North Dakota in the early 2000's. It hit this temperature, to say it sucked was an understatement.
Delhi looks the same at 25° C and 500 times worse AQI
Hard pass, I’ll stick with San Diego.
Good choice.
Relevant username...
Dayum, nature. You frosty!
Born and grew up in a tropical country, I'll be immediately dead by the time I arrive. I can't even stand 15°C
Theres white snow.. and then theres blue snow(shudders)😱
That's how negative fifty looks just about anywhere
Two questions: is this normal? And if so, are certain employees still expected to go to work when it is that cold?
Ex-civil aviation mechanic from Siberia here. Yes, we worked in temperaures like that. Coldest day in airport I remeber was -44 C at night. You really need layered clothing and movement, but it isn't that bad, as there's practically no wind in such temperatures.
It is a quite normal weather in our place - just a week ago we've lived through a week of -35. It's back to -5 again with snowfalls and winds.
You should understand - we are ready for such weather. With winter clothing (I mean real winter clothing for subzero temperatures) standing outside is merely unpleasant, not dangerous. Add centralised heating to it - I open up windows to ventilate my flat and It's still very warm inside.
Hmm that's cool for certain. Not as important but I work in food and have to go to work still even in the negative temperatures we're getting right now 😭 stay warm out there playas and playettes!
All the employees are working, the children are in school. Life in these parts doesn't stop in this kind of weather. I haven't lived in Siberia for a long time, but I remember going to a rehearsal for a Christmas play in -47°C. There I found out the rehearsal was canceled, so I went home. Cell phones didn't exist back then.
People post these kind of photos just to get some upvotes and then every random person is assuming I'm used to live in -50 (with a bear,apparently).
This is NOT A TYPICAL WINTER for the most parts of Russia
What did you name your bear?
Boris.
I have been summoned
That's mostlikely Yakutia for those wondering and yes, it's somewhat common temperature there.
Not going to lie: I total expected to see a bear-like dude walking around shirtless.
what even survives at -50? I’d say maybe leftovers but even those would get freezer burnt at that temperature
Nothing. Even animals get frozen. https://youtu.be/2C8zYFArnKY?si=WP58Lr8GgItuospW
It looks eerily beautiful in a way.
As a Swede, the coldest I've personally experienced is -30°C (can get colder obviously).
Thanks for the post!
Looks like a picture of their leaders morals.