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Climate data for the American McMurdo
station - Continental High Latitude Coast
Latitude: 77.88°S; Longitude:
166.73°E Height - about 24m / 78 feet above sea
level
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Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual Mean |
|
Average daily temperature °C |
- 2.9 |
- 9.5 |
- 18.2 |
- 20.7 |
- 21.7 |
- 23 |
- 25.7 |
- 26.1 |
- 24.6 |
- 18.9 |
- 9.7 |
- 3.4 |
- 16.9 |
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Mean daily max °C |
- 0.2 |
- 6.3 |
- 14 |
- 17.4 |
- 19 |
- 19.1 |
- 21.7 |
- 22.8 |
- 20.8 |
- 15.5 |
- 6.7 |
- 0.8 |
- 13.5 |
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Mean daily min °C |
- 5.5 |
- 11.6 |
- 21.1 |
- 24.9 |
- 27.1 |
- 27.3 |
- 30.1 |
- 31.8 |
- 29.4 |
- 23.4 |
- 12.7 |
- 6 |
- 20.6 |
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Mean monthly rainfall*
mm |
15 |
21.2 |
24.1 |
18.4 |
23.7 |
24.9 |
15.6 |
11.3 |
11.8 |
9.7 |
9.5 |
15.7 |
Annual total 202.5 |
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Current weather
conditions at McMurdo
McMurdo is a coastal
station and so is influenced by the sea. Once the
winter pack ice starts to form and the sun disappears
beyond the horizon, the temperature really starts
to drop. The reappearance of the sun causes the
temperature to rise rapidly again.
*Rainfall figures -
precipitation is given as rainfall equivalent, i.e.
the amount that would have fallen had it fallen
as rain and not snow. Actual liquid rain is very
rare in Antarctica.
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Climate data for the American Amundsen-Scott
station at the South Pole - Continental High Plateau
Data range from 1957 to 1988; Latitude:
90°S; Longitude: 0
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|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
|
Average daily temperature °C |
- 28.2 |
- 40.9 |
- 54 |
- 57.3 |
- 57 |
- 58 |
- 59.7 |
- 60 |
- 59.4 |
- 51.1 |
- 38.3 |
- 27.5 |
- 49.4 |
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Mean daily max °C |
- 25.9 |
- 38.1 |
- 50.3 |
- 54.2 |
- 53.9 |
- 54.4 |
- 55.9 |
- 55.6 |
- 55.1 |
- 48.4 |
- 36.9 |
- 26.5 |
- 45.4 |
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Mean daily min °C |
- 29.4 |
- 42.7 |
- 57 |
- 61.2 |
- 61.7 |
- 61.2 |
- 62.8 |
- 62.5 |
- 62.4 |
- 53.8 |
- 40.4 |
- 29.3 |
- 49.3 |
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Current weather conditions at
the South Pole
The temperature at
the South Pole station consists of 6 months when
it is fairly stable from April to September. After
this, there is a 3 month period where the temperature
rises to a peak and then drops again. This corresponds
to light and dark. When it is permanently dark,
the temperature is very stable. As the sun rises
higher in the sky and has more heating power, so
the temperature rises. After the longest day, December
21st, the sun falls again and so does the temperature.
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Climate data for the Russian Vostok
station at the southern geomagnetic pole
Continental High Plateau Data range
from 1957 to 1988; Latitude: 78.45°S; Longitude: 106.80°E
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|
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
|
Average daily temperature °C |
- 32.1 |
- 44.3 |
- 57.9 |
- 64.7 |
- 65.6 |
- 65.2 |
- 66.9 |
- 67.6 |
- 66 |
- 57.1 |
- 43.3 |
- 32.1 |
- 55.1 |
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Mean monthly rainfall
mm |
0.1 |
0 |
0.7 |
0.5 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
0.6 |
0.7 |
0.3 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0 |
Annual total 4.5 |
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Current weather conditions
at Vostok Station
Vostok is at the
Southern Geomagnetic Pole. It is close to the Pole
of Inaccessibility, the point on the Antarctic continent
that is the furthest from any other and so the most
difficult or inaccessible place to get to. It is
inland and on the high Antarctic ice plateau making
it the coldest and most inhospitable place in the
world.
Look at those rainfall
figures too, total of 4.5mm a year! - 1/5th
of an inch.
In cold conditions
it never actually rains. The figures given are "rainfall
equivalent" how much water would be produced
if the snow that falls were melted.
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If you want to translate
these figures into degrees Fahrenheit, the data tables can be
copied and dropped into an Excel spreadsheet and this formula
applied:
Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit
= (Temperature in degrees centigrade x 1.8) + 32
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