Welcome to the edge of the Earth

Have you ever wondered what are the meteorological limits of our planet? 

To start we are going to visit the coldest place. And no, it isn’t  Antarctica, and yes, people live there. The name is Oymyakon, located in Russia and it holds the world record of lowest temperature: -71.2 ºC ! By the way, right now Oymyakon is still experiencing temperatures below zero degrees. Not bad. Schools are (obviously?) open until it reaches -50 ºC. Unfortunately, there are no heating pipes because obviously those would freeze when this low temperature breaks in.

Then, we have to travel to India to see the rainiest place in the world: Mawsynram. There is rarely a day that precipitation doesn’t occur, with the majority of rain driven by lengthy monsoon seasons where constant rain for 24 hours is normal, particularly in the Bay of Bengal. Actually this town is near a mountain named ‘The abode of clouds’ because its annual rainfall is 11,871 liters per square meter. This is a town where its stone paths rapidly turn into waterfalls.

If we want to get to know the opposite to this last place,  we have to take a plane and go to the region of Yungay, in the Atacamas desert. You get chills when you read that it has been 400 years since this place has even smelled one single drop of rain. Interestingly, the level of relative humidity of its earth is comparable to some places in Mars, as it was proved by the last data given by the Curiosity Rover.

Finally, in the so-called Death Valley (USA), we find the hottest place on Earth. It reached 56.7ºC in 1913!  The depth and shape of Death Valley influences its summer temperatures when heat radiates back from the rocks and soil then becomes trapped in the valley’s depths.

As you can see, sometimes the extremes are beautiful, wonderful and different. Necessary qualities to make them your next trip.

Which one would you dare to go to?