Extreme cold environments are the hardest type to try and survive in, but no matter how good you are at staying alive, if you’re stuck in any of these places without the right gear you’re pretty much done for.
1) Antarctica
The only people that live here are scientists and researchers on a temporary basis, as the whole continent is impossible to establish any permanent living conditions on. The coldest ever temperature recorded here was -133.6°F, Which is just below -91°C, a reading taken by satellite in the central part of the continent.
The average temperature in the central regions ranges from -40°C to -50°C, depending on the time of year. If you were stuck outside in the world record -91°C with normal clothes on, you’d be dead in less than 30 seconds.
2) Verkhoyansk – Russia
A list of cold locations just wouldn’t be complete without somewhere in Russia now would it?. This small town started out as a fort in 1638 before slowly turning into a town over the years due to its logging and oil industries. The average temperatures between October and April average around -45°C, with the coldest ever temperature here being recorded at just below -60°C.
3) Barrow – Alaska
This strangely placed town is the furthest northern settlement in the United States and only 1300 miles from the north pole. Recently renamed to Utqiagvik, its native Inupiaq name, the town has an average temperature as low as -30°C throughout most of the year, and although it isn’t one of the coldest places on earth, its one of the coldest inhabited places in the US.
Its also one of the most remote as there are no roads that connect to the town and it has to be accessed by boat or plane, but with the seas freezing for most of the year, businesses in town have a very small window to order heavy goods to be brought by boat.
4) Northern Greenland
For a country over 20 times the size of Iceland, it may seem surprising that its population is almost 7 times smaller, but Greenland is one of the most uninhabitable countries on earth. The center of the country is nothing but a huge mass of moving glaciers that have stripped the landscape of trees and made it impossible to live for most animals. Summer temperatures here dont normally go above 10°C, with the average winter easily hitting as low as -50°C.
5) Snag – Canada
Snag is a small village located east of Beaver creek in Yukon. Originally built to house prospectors moving here during Canada’s gold rush, the village managed to survive after all the local gold deposits were depleted and now has a small population that has to deal with temperatures well below freezing for most of the year.
The average winter temperature can easily reach -30°C, but the lowest ever temperature taken here was during a February in the 1950’s and reached a record low of -60.9°C.
6) The North Pole
The north pole is mostly made up of giant sheets of ice flowing around and smashing into each other, creating snow dunes and small ice hills. No one lives within the center of the north pole permanently as its impossible to survive here without having literally everything being brought in from the outside. In summer you can expect an average temperature between -15°C and -20°C, with winter here going as low as -60°C.