Verkhoyansk

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Verkhoyansk (English) Верхоянск (Russian)
—  Inhabited locality  —
Location of Verkhoyansk on the map of Russia
Coordinates: 67°33′N 133°23′E / 67.55°N 133.383°E / 67.55; 133.383Coordinates: 67°33′N 133°23′E / 67.55°N 133.383°E / 67.55; 133.383
Coat of arms
Administrative status
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Sakha Republic
In administrative jurisdiction of	Verkhoyansk District[citation needed]
Municipal status
Mayor[citation needed]	Viktor Pavlov[citation needed]
Statistics
Population (2002 Census)	1,434 inhabitants[1]
Founded	1638[citation needed]
Postal code(s)	678530[citation needed]
Dialing code(s)	+7 41165[citation needed]

Verkhoyansk (Russian: Верхоя́нск; Sakha: Үөһээ Дьааҥы (Uöhee D'aaŋy) is a town in the Sakha Republic, Russia, situated on the Yana River, near the Arctic Circle, 675 km from Yakutsk. There is a river port, an airport, a fur-collecting depot, and the center of a reindeer-raising area. Population: 1,434 (2002 Census).^[2] It preserves the status of town for historical reasons only; at the 2002 census it was the third-smallest town in Russia, larger than only Magas and Chekalin.

History

Cossacks founded an ostrog in 1638, 90 km south-west of the modern town. In 1775 it was moved to the left bank of the Yana River, to facilitate tax collection. It received the status of town in 1817. Between the 1860s and 1917 the town was a place of political exile, with some of the more prominent exiles including the Polish writer Wacław Sieroszewski, as well as Bolshevik revolutionaries Ivan Babushkin and Viktor Nogin.

Climate

Verkhoyansk is notable chiefly for its exceptionally low winter temperatures and some of the greatest temperature differences between summer and winter on Earth. It has an extreme subarctic climate (Köppen Dfd) dominated much of the year by high pressure. This has the effect of cutting off the region from warming influences in winter and together with poor cloud cover leads to extensive heat losses. In summer, high pressure encourages long periods of sunshine during the very long days and leads to unusually high temperatures: mean monthly temperature in July is 16 °C with the hottest on record (in 1991) at 20.4 °C.^[3] Together with Oymyakon it is one of the places considered the northern Pole of Cold. The lowest temperature recorded there in 1892, was −69.8 °C (−93.6 °F). Temperatures in Verkhoyansk have spanned 101 °C (202 °F): from −68 °C (−90.4 °F) to 33 °C (91.4 °F). In this area, temperature inversions often form in winter, with the temperature warmer with higher altitude, rather than vice-versa.

Verkhoyansk has a dry climate with little rainfall or snowfall, less than 150mm per year, largely due to the dominance of high pressure. Most falls as rain in summer while in winter snow is most likely in October and May when it is least dry.

References

v • d • e Cities and towns in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic Capital: Yakutsk Aldan · Lensk · Mirny · Neryungri · Nyurba · Olyokminsk · Pokrovsk · Srednekolymsk · Tommot · Udachny · Verkhoyansk · Vilyuysk