Ust-Kamchatsk

Ust-Kamchatsk is a rural locality and the administrative center of Ust-Kamchatsky District of Kamchatka Krai, Russia, located on the eastern shore of the Kamchatka Peninsula at the mouth of the Kamchatka River some away from the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano and from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Population:

History

It was founded in 1731 as the settlement of Ust-Primorsky and was renamed Ust-Kamchatsk in 1890. In 2007, Ust-Kamchatsk was demoted in status from urban-type settlement to a rural locality.

There is a sea port, a fish-processing plant, a few woodworking factories, and Ust-Kamchatsk Airport in Ust-Kamchatsk.

Ust-Kamchatsk has a subarctic climate although it has a strong maritime influence resulting in much less extreme winters, cooler summers and much heavier precipitation compared to interior Siberia and even the Sea of Okhotsk coast. For instance, mean July maxima are cooler than those of Yakutsk, whereas January means are around warmer than the Sakha capital. The effect of the cold Oyashio Current in summer and frequent offshore winds from the Siberian High and Aleutian Low in winter means that, despite the substantial maritime moderation of winter temperatures, annual means are still colder than Ketchikan at a similar latitude on the western coast of North America and colder than Edinburgh at a similar latitude in northwestern Europe.
The windswept locality is largely resembling a barren tundra, although large forests are nearby in more shielded locations.