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Countries by Coldest Recorded Temperature

Can you name the countries that have the lowest ever recorded temperatures?
According to this source. Records considered dubious are not included.
Includes overseas territories
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 21, 2019
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First submittedAugust 17, 2015
Times taken68,637
Average score73.9%
Rating4.76
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°C
°F
Country
-69.6
-93.3
Denmark (Greenland)
-67.7
-89.9
Russia
-62.8
-81.0
Canada
-62.1
-79.8
United States
-56.0
-68.8
Mongolia
-53.6
-64.5
Kyrgyzstan
-52.6
-62.7
Sweden
-52.3
-62.1
China
-52.2
-62.0
Afghanistan
-51.6
-60.9
Kazakhstan
-51.6
-60.9
Tajikistan
-51.5
-60.7
Finland
°C
°F
Country
-51.4
-60.5
Norway
-46.7
-52.0
Armenia
-45.6
-50.1
Turkey
-45.1
-49.2
North Korea
-43.5
-46.3
Bosnia and Herzegovina
-43.5
-46.3
Estonia
-43.2
-45.8
Latvia
-42.9
-45.2
Lithuania
-42.5
-44.5
Switzerland
-42.2
-44.0
Belarus
-42.2
-44.0
Czech Republic
+10
Level 89
Aug 17, 2015
Laos? You sure about that one? Might want to go back and check your source.
+5
Level 75
Aug 17, 2015
The quoted source has a lowest minimum for Laos of -3.3C.
+24
Level ∞
Aug 18, 2015
Sorry Laos was supposed to be Latvia. Copied the wrong row of the spreadsheet.
+41
Level 70
Sep 5, 2017
This has got to be one of my favorite mix-ups in a quiz
+2
Level 46
Sep 5, 2017
It was pretty funny
+2
Level 75
Aug 17, 2015
The -43C temperature for France was at Mont Blanc, which is on the Italian border and therefore should count for Italy as well? That measurement was taken, by the way, in 1893 at a summit weather station which was abandoned in 1909 after a crevasse opened up under it. We'll never know if it's gotten colder up there since then.
+5
Level ∞
Aug 18, 2015
I decided to remove France since we are generally not counting old and possibly incorrect records.
+1
Level 77
Aug 18, 2015
I can't believe I totally forgot China.
+5
Level 90
Aug 19, 2015
WTF Turkey? I turn my back for one minute and you switch from a Mediterranean climate to one of the coldest places on Earth? Well, to heck with you, Turkey! To heck with you!
+1
Level 67
Sep 14, 2015
china would be the same
+10
Level 72
Mar 17, 2017
China actually has a really varied range of climates. It's almost 4,000 km from north to south, which is about the same latitude difference as between Edmonton and Mexico City, or Helsinki and Dubai. Considering that parts of Northeast China butt up right against Siberia, it's not really surprising that they're on this list.
+1
Level 63
Jan 18, 2016
I'm surprised too. I tried some central European countries that seemed possible even though not a first choice (like Czech Republic). I'm not very familiar with the whole landscape situation in Turkey though. Maybe there's a high peak somewhere.
+4
Level 46
Jan 18, 2016
Well considering Anatolia is full of mountains and that Turkey borders the Caucasus mountains, it is not strange its consideration on the list.
+1
Level 45
Jan 18, 2018
the mountains of ararat in the east are pretty high
+1
Level 65
Mar 12, 2017
Turkey is rich climate country.
+1
Level 78
Sep 22, 2015
Surprised Iceland isn't on here
+4
Level 46
Sep 22, 2015
Why? It's an island way out in the ocean and right in the way of the gulfstream. It never gets that cold there (and neither very hot).
+2
Level 83
Nov 28, 2015
You wouldn't be if you went there.
+6
Level 66
Jan 18, 2018
Iceland and Greenland should trade names.
+6
Level 45
Jan 18, 2018
dude both names were on purpose iceland to scare them off, greenland to invite them in...
+2
Level 65
Jan 18, 2018
Eric the Red named it Iceland in order to scare people off from settling there, in order to control more of it for himself.
+3
Level 26
Apr 16, 2019
I am pretty sure Eric found greenland and Ingolfr Arnarson found iceland. But yeah, the rest is correct.
+1
Level 48
Sep 22, 2015
Great quiz - but could specify that these are not necesarrily at sea level because I kept wondering that?
+1
Level 56
Sep 22, 2015
I guess every other answer, give up and suddenly North Korea! You have to wonder where the cold part is and how reliable the data is.
+1
Level 88
Jan 18, 2016
In the north? Daily average high temperatures in Pyongang in January are under zero. Not so hard to imagine the temperatures in the highlands and certainly in the mountainous areas which cover most of North Korea to be this low.
+2
Level 29
Feb 15, 2020
I didn’t think North Korea would have reliable data
+2
Level 52
Sep 22, 2015
People who have not slept outside in -35C or colder know nothing about life. My coldest nights are -40C with fire and -37C without fire.
+24
Level 70
Oct 16, 2015
What a true hero you are. If only we could all be more like you
+12
Level 88
Dec 22, 2015
*Know nothing about *frostbite *necrosis *gangrene *hypothermia
+21
Level 82
Jan 18, 2016
You might know more about life but I still have all my toes.
+1
Level 66
Jan 18, 2016
rofl
+5
Level 57
Jan 18, 2016
Your fire is broken.
+12
Level 47
Jan 19, 2016
People who have not slept outside in -35C or colder know enough about life not to do that. Seriously, that's just a stupid thing to do.
+2
Level 45
Jan 18, 2018
heehee watching all you guys play around with perfect celsius numbers....gotta love fahrenheit!
+2
Level 45
Jan 18, 2018
lol where do you live?
+1
Level 51
Jan 13, 2016
Very surprised to see Turkey right behind Norway...
+1
Level 88
Jan 18, 2016
Huge country. Most of it is pretty hot, but Eastern Anatolia gets very cold. Combined with the very high elevations it's not such a stretch of the imagination to have it included. Norway has a reasonably warm climate for such a northern location, mostly thanks to the gulf stream.
+1
Level 82
Jan 18, 2016
mountains
+7
Level 88
Jan 18, 2016
Serbia...nope, Croatia...nope. I guess I won't bother trying the rest of the former Yugoslav Republics...D'oh!
+2
Level 41
Jan 18, 2016
I was guessing Balkan countries, and then said, no, why did i even think it would be cold there.........
+1
Level 66
Jan 18, 2016
Same
+3
Level 69
Jan 19, 2018
At first, I was totally mystified by Bosnia. But then I thought, okay, well, mountains! So I looked up their mountains, and they haven't got a single one over 8000 feet. Therefore, I am still totally mystified by Bosnia.
+2
Level 82
Jan 18, 2016
Got everything but, yeah, obviously, Nepal has seen much much lower temperatures than the Czech Republic.
+1
Level 65
Jan 18, 2016
Interesting that the United States and China also appear on the highest recorded temperatures quiz...
+2
Level 48
Jan 19, 2016
Typed Nepal and Bhutan actually more than once (even typed India for its mountainous parts). Could really not think of Bosnia and Czech Republic. Fun quiz though!
+1
Level 18
Jan 20, 2016
Iceland? Where is it? Why isn't it on the list?
+3
Level 51
Jan 23, 2016
Antarctica?
+5
Level 73
Jan 27, 2021
Agree with this since the quiz allows external territories of countries. Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand, France and UK could all feature as answers in this case.

The only exclusion might be made is that these territorial claims are not recognised by all countries.

Might be better to add an exclusion for Antartic territories on this basis

+2
Level 83
Jun 13, 2016
Quiz could also be called, "Countries I shouldn't retire to." Though admittedly some of these countries have warm climate areas, as well.
+1
Level 49
Aug 9, 2016
drass region of kashmir,India also faces the bloody cold...may it goes down to -40 C ....don't know the reliable data though
+1
Level 70
Mar 28, 2017
tried georgia and azerbaijan and assumed armenia wouldnt be there. i was wrong
+1
Level 89
Jan 18, 2018
I tried all three but wondered why there was only one hit. Very strange!
+2
Level 46
Jan 25, 2018
the only one that's landlocked
+1
Level 47
Jun 8, 2017
Only missed Turkey.
+1
Level 29
Jul 11, 2017
Cant belive i got all in both higest and lowest recored temerature quiz,except Kuwait and Denmark,the highest ones.
+2
Level 61
Sep 5, 2017
Why is the Netherlands with the entire summer of 2017 not on the list?
+5
Level 71
Dec 13, 2017
I love how the Baltic countries are listed in perfect north-to-south order.
+1
Level 75
Jan 18, 2018
I hate how I forgot all three of them.
+2
Level 73
Jan 18, 2018
Interesting range countries that happen to be at the extreme ends of the range on highest/lowest quality of life surveys. Any list that gets both Norway and North Korea is kind of interesting in that way!
+4
Level 51
Jan 18, 2018
Seeing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all lined up in a row is the Jetpunker's version of /r/oddlysatisfying...
+2
Level 66
Jan 8, 2021
And it's almost in order in the Answer Stats but Lithuania is split from the other 2 by Kazakhstan.
+1
Level 39
Jan 18, 2018
i got all but one on the first try, makes me feel better that only 14% got Bosnia, I was typing more northern things in europe, switzerland and austria area. Also, Nepal should be on the list, but great quiz nonetheless!
+1
Level 37
Jan 18, 2018
Got them all but Bosnia.
+2
Level 42
Jan 18, 2018
Australia? New Zealand? France? Argentina? UK? Chile?
+2
Level 69
Jan 19, 2018
What is this, free association? ;-) But seriously, the source is linked, the criteria explained. I checked your wish list of cold countries against the answers to this quiz, and it took me a mere 5 minutes to confirm that none of them make the cut (only France was close).
+1
Level 33
May 16, 2018
Chile should be on the lowest and highest temperatures quiz because it is "chilly" and made of "chili"
+1
Level 39
Jan 20, 2018
Italy, Germany and Iran should be on the list.
+1
Level 69
Jan 21, 2018
1)did i forget to type czechia, or isn't it allowed as a type-in? pretty sure i thought of it at least.

2)i try afghanistan (score), pakistan (no score) and then automaticly dismiss all the other 'stans'

+1
Level 28
Jan 21, 2018
I thought Russia held the record for the most coldest place in the world
+1
Level 34
May 27, 2018
I typed in every country surrounding Bosnia and Herzegovina........and missed it *hits head*
+1
Level 57
Jun 19, 2018
Nepal? Bhutan? India? Pakistan? Hmmmm not sure about this one
+2
Level 51
Jun 19, 2018
Where's Limberwisk?
+1
Level 63
Jul 5, 2018
This quiz made me wonder about the highest and lowest differences in recorded temperatures. ;)
+1
Level 54
Aug 9, 2018
I was very surprised that Pakistan was not on the list. Could it be because the lack of data?
+1
Level 82
Apr 15, 2019
probably
+1
Level 36
Apr 15, 2019
I was one of the 2% that missed United States. I typed in US several times but never thought to try USA.
+1
Level 70
May 31, 2019
WTF ! Czechia Bosnia and Afghanistan . WHAT
+1
Level 82
Oct 22, 2019
Afghanistan is very mountainous. The Czech Republic is a pretty dubious inclusion and probably only makes the cut because several countries were omitted due to lack of good data.
+1
Level 68
Sep 16, 2019
nice quiz, but forgot about switzerland duh.
+2
Level 66
Oct 7, 2019
almost didn't write Denmark. Living here, I was like - it's never that cold... But when the time was running out and I was still missing 2, I wrote Denmark out of desparation and how surprised I was to hit the number one. Of course I completely forgot, that Greenland is also counted in this quiz :D
+1
Level 24
Oct 22, 2019
North Korea LOL
+1
Level 60
Mar 26, 2020
add date too plz
+1
Level 28
Apr 3, 2020
I don't know why, but I just feel like asking this question. HOW IN THE WORLD IS EGYPT BIGGER THAN TEXAS
+2
Level 90
Jul 14, 2020
Did you post this question on the wrong quiz?
+2
Level 64
May 28, 2021
Because Egypt is a country
+1
Level 67
Feb 15, 2023
Some map projections distort area to preserve other features, like direction or shape. You should have posted this question on a different quiz involving land area.
+1
Level 67
Feb 20, 2024
https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/179902/countries-larger-than-texas

This is the quiz the comment should be on.

+1
Level 55
May 22, 2020
my country is the least guessed on this quiz, tbh i found it surprising as well and only got it because i guess bosnia on almost every quiz
+1
Level 45
Jul 20, 2020
forgot about mount ararat (facepalms) suprised to see no iceland though
+1
Level 37
Oct 30, 2020
Bruh, how can Afghanistan be in this. If its because of mountains in a desert areas, I'll be surprised. :P
+1
Level 39
Feb 17, 2021
since when does afghanistan have winter lol
+1
Level 51
May 15, 2021
i live in Bosnia (I am not Bosnian because i live in Bosnia, I an Serb) and I can confirm its very cold .
+1
Level 64
May 28, 2021
HOW ARE AFGHANISTAN AND MONGOLIA COLDER THAN FINLAND AND NORWAY
+3
Level 52
Jun 7, 2021
mountain
+1
Level 58
Nov 25, 2021
Also, land climate versus sea climate
+1
Level 54
May 4, 2022
How tf is Iceland not here when its just a cold volcanic landmass? Yeah it and greenlands names should be swapped in all but Iceland is still really really cold TF?
+1
Level 32
Jun 21, 2022
How did Afghanistan get on that list, but not obvious countries Iceland, Nepal, and the UK.
+1
Level 60
Sep 30, 2022
Tajikistan hit -80.5
+1
Level 60
Feb 22, 2023
19/23, wouldn't accept "Czechia" and I'm sure Tajikistan should have made the list. Also, Pakistan -65 °C at the peak of K2.
+1
Level 43
Dec 11, 2023
Tajikistan is already on the list, and the last quiz update was in 2019
+1
Level 75
May 9, 2023
bruh how bosnia????