It's Official, Chicago Is Colder Than Parts Of The Arctic, Yukon, And Mars

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago is not the coldest place on Earth right now, but it's not as far off as you might think. While Minnesota might have it worse for the time being, Chicago's frigid weather is worse than parts of Siberia, the Yukon and the Arctic. In fact, the deep freeze is even colder than recent temperatures on Mars.

The temperature in Chicago plunged to -22° by 6 a.m. on Wednesday. By comparison, it's 13° – or 35° warmer – in Murmansk, Russia, which is north of the Arctic Circle.

The northernmost town in the United States, Utqiagvik, Alaska, is also north of the Arctic Circle, and is -6° on Wednesday.

At the base camp for Mount Everest, located 17,000 feet above sea level, it's a relatively balmy 30°.

Even Mars recently had better temperatures than Chicago. The Mars Curiosity Rover has temperature gauges, and according to NASA's website, the most recent weather data from Mars showed a high of 19°. At least we don't have to worry about getting close to the low on Mars, which was -99.4°, according to NASA's most recent data.

Here are some other notoriously frigid locations that are warmer than Chicago on Wednesday, including parts of the Yukon, the South Pole and Scandinavia.

• Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada: -13°
• Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station: -5°
• Old Crow, Yukon Territory, Canada 0°
• Ottawa, Canada: 1°
• Upernavik, Greenland: 2°
• Fairbanks, Alaska: 2°
• Zackenberg, Greenland: 4°
• Oslo, Norway: 9°
• Irkutsk, Russia: 14°
• Edmonton, Canada: 15°
• Stockholm, Sweden: 19°
• Nome, Alaska: 22°
• Reykjavik, Iceland: 23°
• Vladivostok: Russia: 25°
• Helsinki, Finland: 29°
• Copenhagen, Denmark, 36°

At least we can be thankful we're not in Minneapolis, where it's -27° this morning, or Yakutsk, Russia, where it's -47°. So we have that going for us, which is nice.

In:
• National Weather Service