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Yakutsk. Life in Winter.
By KEN BLACK
News Reporter
Times-Republican
Many will remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote about the city of Yakutsk, one of the coldest cities in the world.
I told you then that I was writing someone in Yakutsk about how they cope under such extreme conditions and if they wrote me back, I would share it with you. Lo and behold, I received a response!
Mr. Bolot Bochkarev wrote me and shared some of what life is like in Yakutsk, both during the winter and the summer. But before we get to that, a little weather update for the city.
Yakutsk, like us, is expecting a bit of a heat wave. Of course, heat wave is relative. The hottest the temperature will get over the next 10 days is a forecasted 22 below zero. Some days, the temperature will not get higher than 30 below.
But the lows have moderated, with the temperature only dropping to 36F below zero some nights. This is MUCH nicer than last year, when around this time 50 below for lows and 40 below for highs were common.
Bolot tells me that people in Yakutsk think of summer as like a holiday. With winters this long and hard, that's very understandable. If I lived there, anytime water showed up in liquid form would be a time of great celebration!
But how does one cope in Yakutsk in the winter?
"There are several ways to survive the coldness," Bolot said. "People prefer to stay inside buildings most of the daytime. We have to be outside when we are on the way to home from job/study or to job/study from home."
However, the public transportation in Yakutsk is apparently very good and there is hardly ever a long wait for the bus.
And Yakutians are also masters at layering clothes and finding the warmest materials to wear. Animal rights activists beware! Yaktusk is not the place to go for promoting the cause.
"Fur coats, fur hats, high fur boots, fur gloves, pants with several underpants -- that's the classic way to go outside," Bolot said.
Of course, like over here, those in the younger generations believe image is more important than comfort.
"There are people, especially teenagers, who want to be stylish. It means thick leather jackets or thick bound hats," Bolot said. "They understand that stylish clothes are not warm at all. ... In their cases, to spend less time outside as possible is the only way to escape the chilling."
Driving in Yakutsk is also a challenge.
"Japanese cars, especially off-road vehicles are very popular. They happen to function well in winter," Bolot said. "The secret is to keep vehicles in warm garage for nights and leave them always working in the streets."
Apparently, people in Yakutsk are more honest than people in Marshalltown. Even on the coldest days, I don't recommend anybody leave their vehicles unattended and running in the streets here!
Of course, the big story goes to preparing for the winter. The summer is three months long, so everything that the city needs for the winter is stockpiled during those months at a frantic pace and consumed during the winter. Bolot said the republic's preparation for the winter is its number one priority and that, along with maintenance of housing and other necessary community services take up huge chunks of the budget.
Even so, life in Yakutsk is in some ways much like life here. Indoor facilities make things like bowling, basketball, swimming and skating possible. Movie theaters offer the latest movies, with the latest Hollywood releases opening in Yakutsk the same day they open in the United States.
Daily flights from Moscow, and flights from other cities, make Yakutsk a destination any time of the year, if you are brave enough.
So to Bolot and everyone else in Yakutsk, good luck to you! And take heart, summer is only six months away!
P.S. Times-Republican is Central Iowa's Daily Newspaper based in Marshalltown, IA, USA
// Dec. 29, 2006
Related pages:
 Winter in Yakutia. Written by Alexandra Markova.
Cars in Yakutia. Written by Yulia Rodina.
Yakutsk in pictures. Photo gallery. |
