8 October, 2001

Weekly Climate Summary - South Pole Station, Antarctica

28 September 2001 through 04 October 2001 UTC

Temperature:

Average temp... -59.3°C / -74.7°F

Maximum temp... -50.2°C / -58.4°F on day 4

Minimum temp... -70.0°C / -94.0°F on day 3

Wind:

Average wind speed.......... 14.0 mph or 12.1 knots

Prevailing wind direction... Grid Northeast

Maximum wind speed.......... 32 mph or 28 knots on day 28

Maximum wind direction...... Grid North

Average vectored wind....... 046 degrees at 10.2 knots

Station Pressure:

Average pressure... 665.6 mbs

Highest pressure... 679.6 mbs on day 4

Lowest pressure.... 653.4 mbs on day 2

Physio-altitude:

Average physio-alt = 11176 ft/ 3406 m

Highest physio-alt = 11648 ft/ 3550 m on day 2

Lowest physio-alt = 10643 ft/ 3244 m on day 4

Sky Cover:

Average cloud cover (8ths)... 5

Days clear................... 2

Days partly cloudy........... 2

Days cloudy.................. 3

Sunshine:

Sunrise on 22 March 2002

Average hours per day... 3.9

Percent of possible..... 16

Visibility:

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

Balloon flight data:

Number of soundings for the week..... 10

Average height of soundings.......... 145.1 mb, or 13209 meters Highest sounding..................... 32.9 mb, or 20629 meters

on day 04/00Z flight

00 soundings were missed.

10 soundings were terminated due to balloon burst.

**RECORDS**

Day 03 - The daily minimum temperature of -70.0°C / -94.0°F tied the previous daily record set in 1984.

Katie Wallet

Supervisor of Science

Spotsylvania County Schools