Coldest places on earth

With winter fast approaching we often complain about the cold snowy weather and hope for spring to come sooner rather than later.  A typical winter for most of us is nothing compared to the coldest places on earth were temperatures are extreme and basically uninhabitable.  Here is a list of the top 5 coldest places on earth.

Ust-Shchuger is a small village in Russia and is located near the Pechora and Shchuger rivers.  It had a record low temperature of -58 degrees C which was recorded on December 31 1978.

Snag is a village that was first settled during the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s.  At one point there used to be a military airfield in Snag which closed in 1968, the village once boasted a population of about 30 people in 1947.  On February 3rd 1947 Snag recorded it's lowest temperature on -63 degrees C.

Verkhoyansk is located in Siberia near the Arctic circle on the Yana River.  The town used to be a place political exile from the mid 1800's to 1917 around the time of the Russian Revolution.  The town boasts a population of about 1400 and its main economy is fur collecting and raising reindeer.  The lowest temperature recorded in Verkhoyansk was - 67.8 degrees C on February 5th 1892.

Oymyakon is another Russian town located in the north eastern part of the country, it has a population of about 550 residents.  It's coldest temperature was recorded on January 26, 1926 at -71.2 degrees C and is considered the lowest recorded temperature in the Northern Hemisphere.

The coldest place on earth is Vostok Station which is a Russian research station located in Antarctica.  This station typically has about 20 researchers living there.  The lowest temperature ever recorded at Vostok Station was -89.2 degrees C recorded on July 21, 1983.