18 October, 2001

Weekly Climate Summary - South Pole Station, Antarctica

12 October 2001 through 18 October 2001 UTC

Temperature:

Average temp... -59.2°C / -74.6°F

Maximum temp... -54.3°C / -65.7°F on day 12

Minimum temp... -63.0°C / -81.4°F on day 15

Wind:

Average wind speed.......... 10.2 mph or 8.9 knots

Prevailing wind direction... Grid East

Maximum wind speed.......... 23 mph or 20 knots on day 12

Maximum wind direction...... Grid East

Average vectored wind....... 068 degrees at 8.5 knots

Station Pressure:

Average pressure... 672.3 mbs

Highest pressure... 678.8 mbs on day 18

Lowest pressure.... 668.1 mbs on day 12

Physio-altitude:

Average physio-alt = 10920 ft/ 3328 m

Highest physio-alt = 11080 ft/ 3377 m on day 12

Lowest physio-alt = 10674 ft/ 3253 m on day 18

Sky Cover:

Average cloud cover (8ths)... 3

Days clear................... 3

Days partly cloudy........... 4

Days cloudy.................. 0

Sunshine:

Sunset on 22 March 2002

Average hours per day... 23.4

Percent of possible..... 98

Visibility:

0 days with visibility of 1/4 mile or less.

Balloon flight data:

Number of soundings for the week..... 14

Average height of soundings.......... 59.9 mb, or 20002 meters Highest sounding..................... 14.4 mb, or 26115 meters

on day 16/00Z flight

0 soundings were missed.

14 soundings were terminated due to balloon burst.

**RECORDS**

Day 15 - The daily minimum temperature of -63.0°C / -81.4°F broke the previous daily record of -62.4°C / -80.3°F set in 1993.

Day 16 - The daily minimum temperature of -62.4°C / -80.3°F broke the previous daily record of -61.9°C / -79.4°F set in 1997.

Katie Wallet

Supervisor of Science

Spotsylvania County Schools