There was once a comment by a German – who had served on the eastern front in WW2 – that summed up Russian winter: “First it gets cold; then it gets unbelievably cold.”

And despite all that “global warming” we’ve been hearing about, Siberia is now exceeding even its own worst expectations of cold:

Temperatures in some settlements of Russia’s Yakutia Republic may reach 60 degrees below zero Centigrade (-76F) during the next couple of days. This year’s winter in Yakutia is a lot colder than usual.

(Emphasis mine.)

Here’s a scary thought:

All schools in Yakutia’s capital, the city of Yakutsk, were closed Monday due to severe cold – 51C below zero. Many classes were canceled last week too, when temperatures fell as low as 45C below zero.

Yakutsk is a fair-sized city – with a population of over 200,000. -40 is not uncommon in Yakutsk, but this cold is way beyond the usual, even for them.

And speaking of places:

Yakutia is known for its climate extremes, with the Verkhoyansk Range being the coldest area in the northern hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere’s Pole of Cold is at Verkhoyansk, where the temperatures reached as low as −67.8 ℃ (−90 ℉ ) in 1892, and at Oymyakon, where the temperatures reached as low as −67.7 ℃ (−89.9 ℉ ) in 1933.

Over course, readers of these pages are aware of those two places already.

The thermophobes can often be seen waving signs that say, “Make Global Warming A Priority.” Doubtless the good people of Yakutia would agree, adding only “And Please Hurry Up”….