If you ask: Which country's capital in the world is the coldest? Many people think of Iceland, the country whose name is cold at first glance, and whose capital, Reykjavik, is close to the Arctic Circle and the northernmost capital in the world.
However, what is surprising is that the northernmost Reykjavik winter is not cold, the coldest January average temperature is above 0 °, and the winter is even a little higher than the average temperature of Lianyungang on the mainland.
Because Iceland is affected by the Warm North Atlantic Current, warm and humid air currents blow from the sea all year round, making Iceland have no severe cold in winter and no heat in summer, and are comfortable and pleasant all year round.
In fact, not only Iceland, but all of Western Europe is affected by the Atlantic Warm Current, although many countries have high latitudes, but the temperature is not low, so it is not that the norther it is, the colder it is.
So, the fighting nation of Russia is known for its cold, and is the coldest capital moscow? Moscow is also very cold, the average temperature in January is -10.2 °C, the minimum temperature will reach -42 °C, the winter is long, the cold wind is cold, known as the "City of Blizzard".
However, such a cold Moscow is not the coldest capital in the world.
So, who is the ultimate extreme cold place? It is our neighbor, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
Located in the middle of the Mongolian Plateau, Ulaanbaatar is located in the inland plateau, which is a typical continental climate, and is shrouded by strong continental high pressure for more than half of the year, which is the birthplace of the winter "cold wave" in East Asia.
The minimum temperature here in winter can often reach -40 °C, the average temperature in January is as low as -15-22 °C, and in winter, the north wind whistles, the weather is cold, the snow is fluttering, and it is winter for half a year. Temperatures plummet from late September each year, snow begins in October, and the whole winter is covered with heavy snow, and there is not a trace of green in sight, until mid-May of the following year, when the grasslands turn green.
Ulaanbaatar is much lower than moscow latitude, why is it colder than Moscow?
As we all know, the northeast of the mainland is known for its cold, minus 20 or 30 degrees celsius in winter is a common thing, and minus 30 or 40 degrees in the north of Daxing'anling is not uncommon. France and Italy, which are at the same latitude as the northeast region, are very warm, why is the difference so great? This is "due" to the Siberian cold current.
Every winter, we often hear the weather forecast cold wave blue warning, where does the cold wave come from? It's Siberia.
Due to the influence of the cold current, the Mongolian plateau to Siberia is the coldest region in the northern hemisphere in winter, after the formation of the cold wave in Siberia, it began to go south in a big way, and Ulaanbaatar on the Mongolian plateau bore the brunt of it, the first wave was attacked by the cold wave, which was also the most intense period of the cold wave, and then all the way east to the south into the mainland, from the northeast to north China all the way to the south of the river, the power gradually weakened and disappeared.
With an area of 1.56 million square kilometers, Mongolia is the second largest landlocked country in the world and has a vast territory. Since Ulaanbaatar's climate is so cold, can't you change places?
In fact, it is also forced, the whole territory of Mongolia is located in the Mongolian plateau, the land desertification is serious, half of the territory is the desert Gobi, the remaining half of the land, the barren mountains account for a large part, only the northwest region has a patch of cold temperate coniferous forest. The so-called sky is clear, wild, and the beautiful grassland scenery of cattle and sheep is low in the wind and grass, which only accounts for 10% of Mongolia's territory. There are not many places suitable for establishing a city, and only the vicinity of Ulaanbaatar is relatively ideal.
Mongolia has a population of about 3.2 million, 1.4 million people live in Ulaanbaatar, accounting for more than 1/3 of the country, and the second largest city, Darhan, has only 60,000 people. It can be said that Ulaanbaatar is the only city in the country, although it is bitterly cold, there is indeed no better place to choose.
Mongolia is an agrarian country dominated by animal husbandry and an economically backward economy, with 32 per cent of the country's population below the poverty line. In recent years, development has been hindered, the economy has been in trouble, the currency has depreciated sharply, and after the price rise, it has led to the difficulty of people's lives, and the people's living standards have deteriorated, and they have almost struggled on the line of food and clothing.
Ulaanbaatar is a city with a strong grassland style, modern and primitive coexist, gathering the strength of the whole country to develop a city, the city center is lined with high-rise buildings, the architecture is novel and modern, and at night, the streets are neon flashing, a prosperous scene. However, under the surface of prosperity is a huge gap between the rich and the poor of the people.
Mongolia's resources and minerals are occupied and divided by a small number of bureaucrats and rich people, and ordinary people do not have any benefits, which can be described as "the rich are fertile and wild, and the poor have no place to stand" . The rich people live all day long, luxury cars and mansions, and live in luxury, but the vast number of poor people live in suburban slums, and even many people do not even have a foothold in the slums, and can only hide in bridges and manhole covers to avoid the long cold winter.
Since urban life is in full swing, why not return to the grasslands to graze? In fact, in the past, before the privatization of livestock, animal husbandry was uniformly managed by the Mongolian government, and herders only needed to graze their cattle with peace of mind, and they were paid regularly every month, although it was not much, but it was enough to maintain food and clothing.
In order to seek economic assistance from Western countries, blindly copying and pasting Western ideas without facing up to their own national conditions, after the complete Westernization reform, the fixed income of herders who can only graze their cattle is gone, and they do not know anything about business, so that they finally fall to the point where they cannot even guarantee food and clothing.
In the end, the herders, who are struggling to make ends meet, have to leave the pastoral areas and come to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, where they have no houses and have to think of their own ways, they can't afford expensive houses in the city, and they have to huddle their families in tents. The family circles a small piece and builds a yurt. Surrounded by hundreds of thousands of tents, the city is densely distributed around the city, stretching for several kilometers, where herders live.
The living conditions here are very poor, there is no running water, no central heating, and when the cold comes, in order to resist the winter of half a year, they rely entirely on firewood and coal for heating, and the entire shantytown is shrouded in black smoke.
Coupled with the import of a large number of used cars from Japan and South Korea in recent years, making air pollution serious, Ulaanbaatar is also one of the most smog-polluted cities in the world. In order to resist the cold, many people are accustomed to alcoholism, often drunk, in order to paralyze the nerves is also hopeless for the future.
Despite the harsh natural environment, countless young Mongolians still come here, and 70% of the city's population is under the age of 30, making Ulaanbaatar the youngest city in the world.