Coldest place on Earth goes to...East Antarctica

Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 12:14 PM -

Parts of the Prairies saw temperatures plunge into the minus 20s and 30s last week feeling closer to the -40s when you factor in the wind chill.

Ridiculously cold right?

Not when you consider the coldest place on Earth.

"It is a high ridge in Antarctica on the East Antarctic Plateau where temperatures in several hollows can dip below minus 133.6 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 92 degrees Celsius) on a clear winter night," NASA says.

Newly analyzed data from East Antarctica indicate the remote region has set a new record low at -94.7°C or -135.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

It happened in August, 2010 and is based on NASA satellite data.

"That is several degrees colder than the previous low of minus 128.6 F (minus 89.2 C), set in 1983 at the Russian Vostok Research Station in East Antarctica," says NASA.

Think #Toronto is cold? East Antarctica has set a new freezing cold record, -94.7 Celsius. #nothanks #iwouldcry

— Emily Vukovic (@EmilyTWN) December 10, 2013

"Scientists made the discovery while analyzing the most detailed global surface temperature maps to date, developed with data from remote sensing satellites including the new Landsat 8, a joint project of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)," NASA adds.

Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado joined a team of researchers reporting the findings Monday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

"We had a suspicion this Antarctic ridge was likely to be extremely cold, and colder than Vostok because it's higher up the hill," Scambos said. "With the launch of Landsat 8, we finally had a sensor capable of really investigating this area in more detail."

With files from NASA