<P> Antarctica has the coldest climate on the Earth . Antarctica 's lowest air temperature record was set on 21 July 1983 , with − 89.2 ° C ( − 128.6 ° F ) at Vostok Station . Satellite measurements have identified even lower ground temperatures , down to − 93.2 ° C ( − 135.8 ° F ) at the cloud free East Antarctic Plateau on 10 August 2010 . It is also extremely dry ( technically a desert ) , averaging 166 mm ( 6.5 in ) of precipitation per year . On most parts of the continent the snow rarely melts and is eventually compressed to become the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet . Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent , because of the katabatic winds . Most of Antarctica has an ice cap climate ( Köppen EF ) with very cold , generally extremely dry weather . </P>
what is the coldest it has ever been in antarctica
− 128.6 ° F