A thermometer broke from intense frost as temperatures across Siberia plunged to incredible lows.
At another point, an unofficial reading showed -79 Fahrenheit—but the thermometer broke soon after.
“Some residents recorded temperatures as low as -67C [-88.6F] at their properties, in touching distance of -67.7C [-89.8F], the coldest-ever officially recorded for a permanently inhabited settlement anywhere in the world, and the frostiest in the Northern hemisphere,” the Times noted.
The lowest official record in Oymyakon of -89 degrees was noted in 1933.
Life went on around the village, though, with some fishermen even setting up shop on the streets to sell fish.
And locals were left stunned when a group of Chinese tourists stripped down to their underwear and took a dip in a spring nearby.
“This does not freeze even in severe frosts in Oymyakon,” wrote journalist Elena Pototskaya, reported the Times. “Horror! Us locals, are afraid to go out in such a cold. And here ... the tourists are swimming!”
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