Documented record · well documented
Vostok Station
Annual mean temperature · Antarctica
Vostok Station recorded −89.2 °C — the lowest air temperature ever reliably measured at the Earth's surface.
Why a record is measured against the place
A number on its own says very little. −89.2 °C would be unremarkable in one climate and unthinkable in another. What makes a record matter is its distance from what that place, at that time of year, has historically produced — its own normal.
Not Normal expresses that distance in standard deviations (σ) from a thirty-year baseline. Two σ above normal is reached in roughly 1 year in 44 under the baseline climate; four σ above, roughly 1 year in 32,000.
Modelled demonstration series · not observed data
The same place on the field
Not Normal carries a modelled 75-year series for Vostok Station (Annual mean temperature) that demonstrates the reasoning above. It is synthesised from published climatology, not observed, and is kept apart from the documented record on this page.
The season here
The East Antarctic plateau is the coldest place on Earth and the most stable — it is insulated from the changes hitting the peninsula and the Arctic.
Other documented records
Open Vostok Station on the field →