Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1996-97: VUWAE 41
9. Weather
9. Weather
We had no meteorological equipment to provide a detailed account of the weather encountered. In general the range of temperatures experienced were quite warm. On a few occasions the temperature may have reached +5° C but on most days was between −5° and 0° C. Wind chill was usually the only thing that made the temperature feel cold. We had a variety of cloud cover, with considerable variation during the day from 0/8 to 8/8. In general the coast seems to be in a fringe zone between the weather that the dry valleys and mountains receive and the weather of the Ross Sea/Ross Island area. Often this fringe zone meant the weather would look bad elsewhere while still being good over the coast. We had three spells when there was snow. These were short lived (1/2 to 1 day) and were not bad enough to hinder work to any great extent. The second snowfall put an estimated 10 - 15 cm of fresh snow (undrifted) on the ground while the others were considerably less. The weather was of little hindrance except where the snowfall covered rocks!