Norilsk is situated 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle and is known as a place of brutal extremes. It’s the coldest and one of the darkest places in Russia, since starting from the beginning of December, the locals face the perpetual night of polar winter. The night usually lasts from about November 30 to January 13. Beyond the city, which is populated with around 175,000 people, there’s the uninhabited wilderness of northern Siberia.
Te city is not only famous for its freezing climate, it’s also one of the biggest producers of pollutants, “turning an area twice the size of Rhode Island into a dead zone of lifeless tree trunks, mud, and snow,” according to The New York Times. Norilsk Nickel company is the world’s largest producer of palladium and a major supplier of metals like copper, nickel, etc.
The New York Times reports that “at one point, the company belched more sulfur dioxide a year than all of France.” As a result, Norilsk’s Daldykan river, which runs the plant, has turned red.Most locals spend their leisure time indoors, especially during the winter season.
The cold gets so severe here that freelance taxis have been a booming business, with locals too cold to walk outside for even short distances. Buses also exist, but waiting outside for one until it arrives may be impossible, so it’s not uncommon to hide in a nearby shop and wait for the bus to come.
