Where Is The Coldest Place On Earth? Inside 11 Locations That Have Reported Record-Low Temperatures

Published March 15, 2025
Updated March 17, 2025

Utqiaġvik, The Coldest And Northernmost City In The United States

Utqiaġvik Alaska

Wikimedia CommonsUtqiaġvik, Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, the northernmost city in the United States.

Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow, is the northernmost city in the United States, located on the shore of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska, some 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle. It’s also one of the coldest places on Earth.

Utqiaġvik experiences an extreme polar climate, with long, harsh winters and brief, cool summers. The city experiences 66 days of continuous darkness during the winter months, which significantly influences its temperatures.

The lowest temperature ever recorded in Utqiaġvik was negative 56 degrees Fahrenheit on Feb. 3, 1924, but even during typical years, temperatures normally don’t rise above freezing between October and May and remain below zero from December to March.

Despite these frigid conditions, Utqiaġvik has a population of nearly 5,000. The majority of these residents are Indigenous Iñupiat who still hunt and fish for much of their food. There are also six restaurants in the town, including a Subway, as well as three hotels, a bank, a large grocery store, and even an indoor swimming pool at the local high school.

author
Austin Harvey
author
A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Austin Harvey has also had work published with Discover Magazine, Giddy, and Lucid covering topics on mental health, sexual health, history, and sociology. He holds a Bachelor's degree from Point Park University.
editor
Cara Johnson
editor
A writer and editor based in Charleston, South Carolina and an assistant editor at All That's Interesting, Cara Johnson holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Washington & Lee University and an M.A. in English from College of Charleston and has written for various publications in her six-year career.
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Harvey, Austin. "Where Is The Coldest Place On Earth? Inside 11 Locations That Have Reported Record-Low Temperatures." AllThatsInteresting.com, March 15, 2025, https://allthatsinteresting.com/coldest-place-on-earth. Accessed March 18, 2025.