
The next time you feel like complaining about how cold it is, you might want to think twice. It could be a whole lot worse.
The Siberian city of Yakutsk has seen an average low this month of minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit, meteorologists report.
While residents of the world's coldest city are accustomed to below-freezing temperatures, this winter has been especially brutal, they say.
"You can't fight it," Anastasia Gruzdeva told Reuters. "You either adjust and dress accordingly or you suffer."
Gruzdeva, by the way, was wearing two scarves, two pairs of gloves and multiple hats and hoods as she walked through the icy landscape of the city, located about 3,100 miles east of Moscow and just 300 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
"Warm shoes is a must," she added. "And you need to cover your head. This is all very important. Also warm trousers, because the biggest heat loss is in the leg area. If your legs are cold, you are cold. So dress warmly."
It's so cold, vendors can sell frozen meat at outdoor markets without the need for a fridge or freezer.
"Just dress warmly," Nurgusun Starostina told Reuters. "In layers, like a cabbage!"
In Yakutsk, temperatures hover around the -40°F mark for at least three months of the year, according to National Geographic. Other locations in the world see colder temperatures, but none have a fully functioning city like Yakutsk, where the ground is permanently frozen and icy rivers become strong enough they can be used as roads. Although many people avoid traveling outside in the winter, the city is home to about 335,000 residents.
The lowest temperature in Yakutsk was recorded in 1891, when readings dropped to -64.4°C, or -83.9°F, New Scientist reported.