An exceptional cold wave is currently affecting Siberia, the coldest territory in the northern hemisphere, reports Liberation.

Negative anomalies of -30°C compared to seasonal norms were observed.

These very low temperatures, which are felt as far away as Moscow, notably dropped to -62°C at the Zhilinda station on Tuesday January 10, 2023, a record for the month of January.

In Siberia, a territory of 13.1 million km², temperatures generally drop to -55°C in winter, making it the second coldest region on the planet behind Antarctica at this season.

"In total, on the scale of Siberia, the current temperatures make it the most intense cold wave since 1982 in Yakutia" explained the Weather Channel.

With minimums at -57°C at night and maximums at -50°C during the day, it is also “the strongest cold wave since 1994”.

-67.8°C in 1926

The absolute cold record in Siberia has not yet been broken, however.

On January 26, 1926, the archives indeed show a summer temperature of -67.8 ° C in Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon.

Oymyakon, in Yakutia, in northeastern Siberia, is considered one of the coldest cities in the world, with average temperatures hovering around -45°C in January.

In Yakutsk, temperatures plunged to -58C last week, Reuters reported.

The inhabitants, accustomed to the falls of the thermometer, are fatalistic in the face of the polar cold.

"You can't fight it.

Either you adapt and dress accordingly, or you suffer,” a woman told the news agency.

Linked to global warming

This cold spell, exceptional even at the global level, does not however call into question the global phenomenon of global warming.

On a planetary scale, there are currently more hot anomalies (in North America, or even in China) than cold anomalies.



In reality, these two phenomena are intrinsically linked.

Global warming causes a collapse of the polar vortex, which comes to unhook large masses of icy air from the stratosphere.

The undulations of the jet-stream also work through a system of communicating vases.

Once on the ground, this cool air is then maintained by a powerful anticyclone called the Siberian anticyclone.

It should send this fresh air to China and Southeast Asia.

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