A new world record for high air pressure has provisionally been set in a high mountain valley in Mongolia.

An automatic weather station in Tsetsen-Uul, in thewestern province of Zavkhan, recorded a mean sea-level pressure of 1,094.3 millibars along with bitter temperatures of -45.5C.

If verified by scientists, it will top the previous world record of 1089.4 millibars, which was also set in Mongolia exactly 16 years ago on 30 December.

It is normal for Mongolia, Siberia and other parts of Russia to see episodes of high pressure and extreme cold at this time of year.

In recent days, western and northern parts of Mongolia has been experiencing extreme cold weather as temperatures fell to – 50 Celsius in night time and -40 Celsius in day time.