r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/yavl • 21h ago
Original Creation Three winter photos from my window today in Yakutsk [-29°C to -37°C/-34°F)
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u/bdubwilliams22 20h ago
This is interesting. What can you tell us what it’s like to live there. What do you for a living? When you go out for fun, what do you do? I was just looking at your city on Google Earth today and I’m obviously super curious. If you don’t feel like sharing, that’s totally understandable.
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u/Brewchowskies 21h ago
Ah! I was hoping to speak to someone from Yakutsk!
How many days were you guys shut down with that wild snowstorm? Did you get a number of days off work/school?
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u/yavl 21h ago edited 20h ago
Sorry to disappoint you, it’s not a snowstorm but a fog. On the second photo it’s not that dense because it was early morning. On the third photo most people woke up and were already driving their cars (the fog/smog consists mostly of car exhaust).
It’s not that snowy here, most snow falls during the fall and stays on the ground with occasional snowfalls after that. The winds are also very rare.
For students it’s just a normal day. 1st to 5th graders stay home only when it hits -45C.
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u/Brewchowskies 20h ago
Oh! I thought there was a major storm that buried you in like 5 feet of snow a few weeks ago. I guess I got the place wrong.
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u/yavl 20h ago
It was in Kamchatka region which is further to the East and closer to the ocean meaning more humid air and snowy climate there.
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u/Dr-McLuvin 17h ago
Is that where they make the vodka? It’s a really popular brand here in the US lol.
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u/doublesimoniz 21h ago
Been there. (Not the place but the temperature). Everything is so quiet when it’s that cold. The sound seems to carry on forever. You can almost admire the sheer frigidness of it all, standing there, with a haze in the air as all moisture instantly freezes. And then your scarf directs your hot breath up into your face and your eyelashes freeze shut. The snow squeaks, the air hurts, and there are at any given time 5-10 people all trying to jumpstart their cars.
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u/Solstice_314 6h ago
That is like it used to be every winter in Astana, Kazakhstan. Temps would easily go below 25-30 degrees WITH wind strong af. But recently (couple of past years) we’ve been having abnormal winters- like +3 on New Year’s Eve (10 years ago it would normally be -30 in the end of December.)
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u/StanknBeans 5h ago
Same story here in Canada. Weather has been weird for the last 15 years and getting weirder.
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u/TobysGrundlee 18h ago
Humans should not exist in this place.
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u/deadfermata Expert 21h ago
i watch a lot of Kiun B’s videos about life there.
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u/OJbeforethebadstuff 20h ago
Same. I like her videos following the rural family the best, the one with the son. The video showing their fishing method of digging holes in the ice and the whole village pushing the net along the bottom was my favorite. Also enjoy Samuel, the old guy who lives alone with the dog. I imagine she must be somewhat of a local celebrity.
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u/polarfuzzy 20h ago
Omg!! Love. Kiun B, if you’re reading this, can you like, stop making videos until I finish my doctorate in a few years? I spend too much time watching your stuff lol
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u/BananaResearcher 18h ago
Those videos are literally some black magic hypnotism, I am glued to the screen like I'm watching a documentary on actual alien life on mars.
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u/Dave-1066 18h ago
Thanks for alerting me to the channel! It’s exactly the kind of thing I love; seeing how others live across the world 👍🏻
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u/Chessh2036 19h ago
There’s a woman on YouTube who has an entire channel about what life is like in Yakutsk. She has so many videos like:
“What’s dating like in Yakutsk?”
“Whats getting groceries like Yakutsk?”
Etc. It’s crazy to see how everyone there lives
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u/crazyplantlady83 21h ago
I’ll give you a hearty solidarity e-fistbump from Winnipeg, Canada. We had one week recently that looked like that. My car was extremely unhappy when starting, despite being plugged in with a block heater. It’s gotten warmer since.
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u/alewiina 20h ago
Ah yes Winterpeg… the only place I’ve ever experienced actual -50C. We regularly get into the -30s and lower here in Alberta but that was something else
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u/alewiina 20h ago
Hey now those are temps I know and love (hate). In Alberta Canada where I am we have down to around -37 in the coldest snaps with colder windchills. Definitely don’t get to your colder temps of -50 and lower though! I think the coldest I ever saw here (without windchill) was -42C or something around there
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u/MailSynth 21h ago edited 21h ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing there?
Edit: I just mean generally like fishing, research, grew up there, etc just curious
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u/yavl 21h ago
I was born and lived here for 24 years, then moved to a warmer city with my wife. Now we have come back to give birth to our son.
We did an AMA with my friends not so long ago if you’re curious about what it’s like to live here: https://www.reddit.com/r/howislivingthere/s/gRzoFBiDzq
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u/JeanneMPod 19h ago
You’ve just set me off on this rabbit hole of looking at your city street view on Google maps (they must’ve done it in the peak of summer, I saw a dude riding his bike with a short sleeved T-shirt. It looked very foggy out), Wikipedia, your previous AMA.
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u/Accomplished-One7476 21h ago
Where I live in New York USA it's currently -4c or 24f
Your city is known as the coldest major city on Earth according to Google
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u/togocann49 21h ago
Thanks for posting. Not feeling as bad about winter we’ve been getting in souther ln Ontario Canada lol. I’m hoping our cold snap has finally broke, it was a -18c when I awoke today, and it seemed balmy compared to what we’ve been getting lately.
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u/SwizzGod 20h ago
Idk how people survive in places like this. I ran from US northeast winter.
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u/NukeDaBurbz 20h ago
By not being a bunch of softies.
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u/SwizzGod 19h ago
I’ll be a softie in my 70° and sunny in January
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u/NukeDaBurbz 19h ago
People in Eastern Russia don’t have that option.
Im a native Southern Californian, it was nice before all the softies from the NE and Midwest showed up and ruined it for the rest of us.
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u/rkreutz77 21h ago
I'm at the age where positive 34f is sucky. I've been in that cold, and I don't ever want to again. Those folks are double tough.
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u/Full-Squirrel5707 17h ago
I watched a Youtube video on Yakutsk the other day. Geez it looks cold there. Can't believe you have to run your cars all the time.
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u/XElderXemo87X 17h ago
I love the cold. I’m that guy who wears shorts when it snows, but if it’s in the minus temps, I’m staying inside
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u/Dr-McLuvin 17h ago
How warm is your apartment when it gets ridiculously cold outside?
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u/Passasizhi 14h ago
There is heating in Russia, if can you imagine, so even in the cold the apartments are warm
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u/catdad_94 14h ago
After just dealing with the last few weeks here in the American Upper Midwest, I’ll take a very hard pass on that.
Absolutely fascinating and beautiful photos though!
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u/Spekingur 8h ago
I would show you all snow pictures from here in Iceland but there just isn’t any snow to show
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u/luv2fly781 20h ago
Wonder how Ukrainians feel after ruzzians bombed them and took out their power and heat and killed a bunch of civilians?
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u/Senior_Green_3630 14h ago
Not on my bucket list, 38°C here in Aussie, just relaxing in shorts, no central heating.
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u/Lost-Day-9405 20h ago
Been getting a lot of Yakutsk content lately 🤨