The Coldest Temperature on Earth

Vostok, Antarctica is the home of the coldest temperature on Earth at a cool -89 °C (183 K). At the Russian research station the temperature is regularly in the -30 to the -60 °C mark. This chilly weather is due to the exceptionally high speed of the arctic winds. The katabatic or downward type winds that bring the brisk temperature, travel with speeds up to 200 mph (about 90 m/s) from inland toward the coast of the continent.

As one moves toward the higher region inland -- that is, toward the true pole -- the temperature drops from its normal -40 °C to -80 °C. The coldest temperatures usually occur during the winter months of July and August. That is when Antarctica is in its days of darkness.

Warmer temperatures, usually still well below freezing, during the all daylight summer months of December and January.

Antarctica also holds the previous record of the lowest temperature on Earth at -88 C. Although still unofficial, Vostok Station may have broken its own record for the coldest temperature on Earth. It has been reported that Vostok reached the temperature of -91 °C during the winter of 1997.