According to NASA Earth Observatory satellites, the coldest place on Earth is a mountain ridge on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures can drop to -135.8 degrees Fahrenheit (-93.2 degrees Celsius).

For the past week, much of the US has been affected by an extreme winter storm that brought massive snowfalls, destructive winds, and freezing temperatures as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-28 degrees Celsius). That’s low enough for the average person to suffer frostbite in just under 10 minutes of direct exposure, but it’s nowhere near as dangerous as the coldest place on Earth. NASA satellites recently a high mountain ridge on the East Antarctic Plateau where, on clear winter nights, temperatures drop to an abysmal -135.8 degrees Fahrenheit (-93.2 degrees Celsius).

Photo: Rod Long/Unsplash

As you can imagine, exposure to such temperatures without special gear, even for a few seconds, can be deadly. For example, exposure to  -95 degrees Fahrenheit can cause frostbite in under two minutes, according to National Weather Service data.

This East Antarctic Plateau high ridge has retained the title of “world’s coldest place” since 2013, when NASA satellites first recorded temperatures there, but it’s steadily been getting colder. In 2013, the lowest recorded temperature was -133.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but now it seems to have dropped to -135.8 Fahrenheit.

 

Temperatures in the coldest place on Earth are much lower than temperatures in some areas of Mars, a planet much farther from the Sun than Earth. The red planet averages temperatures of – 81 degrees Fahrenheit, but towards the poles, they drop to a freezing -220 degrees, during winter months.