IF THERE was ever a picture that encapsulated the tiny Russian town of Oymyakon, it's a man standing in front of the town's new electronic thermometer that broke after temperatures got too cold for it.

The device was installed in Oymyakon as a tourist attraction due to the extreme depths the mercury gets to in Winter.

Oymyakon is a small village in the Siberian tundra which happens to be the coldest inhabited place on Earth.

The average Winter temperatures drop to a frigid minus 50 Celsius. But when temperatures dropped to minus 62C this week it proved too much for the new electronic thermometer to handle as it began malfunctioning in the cold temperatures, the Siberian Times reported. Some locals said the temperature dropped as low as minus 67C.

Oymyakon lies a two-day drive from the city of Yakutsk, the regional capital, which has the coldest winter temperatures for any city in the world.

Ironically, Oymyakon actually means "non-freezing water" due to a nearby hot spring.

The village was originally a stopover for reindeer herders who would water their flocks from the thermal spring. In attempts to force its nomadic population into putting down roots, the Soviet government later transformed the site into a permanent settlement.

Known as the "Pole of Cold", the coldest ever temperature recorded in Oymyakon was a mind numbing minus 67.7C, accepted as the lowest ever in the Northern Hemisphere.

But that sort of thing doesn't seem to deter the has 50 permanent locals who have shared images on social media of braving the frigid conditions.

IF THERE was ever a picture that encapsulated the tiny Russian town of Oymyakon, it's a man standing in front of the town's new electronic thermometer that broke after temperatures got too cold for it.

The device was installed in Oymyakon as a tourist attraction due to the extreme depths the mercury gets to in Winter.

Oymyakon is a small village in the Siberian tundra which happens to be the coldest inhabited place on Earth.

The average Winter temperatures drop to a frigid minus 50 Celsius. But when temperatures dropped to minus 62C this week it proved too much for the new electronic thermometer to handle as it began malfunctioning in the cold temperatures, the Siberian Times reported. Some locals said the temperature dropped as low as minus 67C.

Oymyakon lies a two-day drive from the city of Yakutsk, the regional capital, which has the coldest winter temperatures for any city in the world.

Ironically, Oymyakon actually means "non-freezing water" due to a nearby hot spring.

The village was originally a stopover for reindeer herders who would water their flocks from the thermal spring. In attempts to force its nomadic population into putting down roots, the Soviet government later transformed the site into a permanent settlement.

Known as the "Pole of Cold", the coldest ever temperature recorded in Oymyakon was a mind numbing minus 67.7C, accepted as the lowest ever in the Northern Hemisphere.

But that sort of thing doesn't seem to deter the has 50 permanent locals who have shared images on social media of braving the frigid conditions.