
Lowest temperature recorded on Earth - Thevet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowest_temperature_recorded_on_Earth
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grecy
Snag, Yukon is officially the second coldest place every recorded in North
America at -63C / -81F [1]

I've been into Snag in the summer, a fascinating place with a ton of history
and crumbling buildings to poke around. Living in the Yukon the best I've seen
is -48C / -54.5F, and I've ridden my bike to work at -43C / -45.5F.

Experiencing those temperatures is like being on another planet and I'm
constantly in awe every time I get to go out and experience it.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records#Lowest...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records#Lowest_temperatures_ever_recorded)

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alex_young
I used to ski to work in -40 or lower.

The thing I took away from that experience is a realization that the main
factor in survival is your gear.

The difference between not freezing at -10F and the same at -40 is a layer of
insulation.

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malandrew
Would love to hear more detail about what you learned about gear in that
environment.

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grecy
A buddy of mine taught my during my first fall/winter in the Yukon, I was
lucky to get a great crash course from him.

Don't wear anything made of cotton - it actually makes you feel colder. Throw
it all out.

Wear Marino wool against your skin.

Wear multiple layers like base, mid, outer, possibly even one more when it's
cold.

Spend big bucks on your base layer and outer layer. Carry multiple pairs of
gloves.

After a day of activities, change all your clothes. They're damp and you don't
know it.

When it's cold, don't put your bare hands on anything - the heat will be
sucked out of them and it can take hours to nurse them back to good again.

Always, always, always carry a thermos of hot liquid, bomb-proof fire starting
kit, and a spare change of clothes. When it's that cold, things go wrong, and
you must be ready. My friend does this when only going 10 minutes from his own
house. At -40C, you won't be OK for the ten minutes if you get wet or
something else serious happens.

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malandrew
What would you look for in your base and outer layers?

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caf
I've often wondered - those temperatures measured in Antarctica are below the
sublimation point for carbon dioxide, so would dry ice snow have precipitated
out of the atmosphere there?

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horsecaptin
Found this regarding that: [http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/06/13/results-lab-
experiment...](http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/06/13/results-lab-experiment-
regarding-co2-snow-in-antarctica-at-113%C2%B0f-80-5%C2%B0c-not-possible/)

~~~
caf
So the answer is no, because the partial pressure of CO2 is so low.

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horsecaptin
What advantage / possibilities would finding such cold places on earth open
up?

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nitin_flanker
Well not an exact advantage, but researchers have made a metal that can
superconduct at -70C. (near to the lowest recorded temperature on earth.)

>The researchers found that under the pressure from their diamond anvil it
transformed into a material that superconducted at temperatures as high as -70
°C, breaking the previous record of around -110 °C.

[https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28058-warmest-ever-
su...](https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28058-warmest-ever-
superconductor-works-at-antarctic-temperatures/)

As the tech may improve, soon we may be able to build superconductors which
will be capable of functioning on earth temperatures.

~~~
jeffwass
Except that superconductor required a pressure of 1.6 million atmospheres!

Dunking a high-Tc superconductor in a dewar of liquid nitrogen is pretty easy
and relatively low cost, and I believe far more practical. I don't know that
much about the diamond anvils used to generate these pressures but I believe
it's only over tiny surface areas in specialised equipment.

