5 July, 2001

Monthly South Pole Station Climate Summary - June 2001

Temperature:

Average temp............ -57.5°C/ -71.5°F

Departure from normal... +1.0°C/ +1.8°F

Maximum temp............ -41.7°C/ -43.1°F on day 29

Minimum temp............ -70.0°C/ -94.0°F on day 21

Wind:

Average wind speed.......... 13.9 mph or 12.1 knots

Prevailing wind direction... Grid North or 010 degrees

Maximum wind speed.......... 43 mph or 37 knots on day 19

Maximum wind direction...... Grid Northeast

Average vectored wind....... 051 degrees at 9.6 knots

Station Pressure:

Average pressure........ 680.5 mbs or 20.095 in. Hg

Departure from normal... -0.8 mbs or -0.024 in. Hg

Highest pressure........ 693.6 mbs or 20.482 in. Hg on day 13 Lowest pressure......... 667.5 mbs or 19.711 in. Hg on day 27

Sky Cover:

Average cloud cover (8ths)... 02

Days clear................... 17

Days partly cloudy........... 12

Days cloudy.................. 01

Sunshine:

Sunrise on 22 September 2001

Average hours per day... 0.0

Percent of possible..... 0

Visibility... 11 days with a visibility of 1/4 mile or less.

Snowfall..... TRACE; average net change at snow stakes +1.311 inches.

Balloon flight data:

Number of soundings for the month... 30

Average height of sounding.......... 118.8 mbs or 15863 meters above msl Highest sounding.................... 3.8 mbs or 32872 meters above msl on the day 11/00Z sounding

Remarks:

00 soundings were missed.

09 soundings were terminated above 50 mbs.

01 sounding was terminated between 50 and 100 mbs.

20 soundings were terminated below 100 mbs.

Records:

Day 28 - The daily maximum temperature of -41.8°C / -43.2°F broke the previous daily record

of -43.3°C / -45.9°F set in 1965.

- The daily peak wind speed of 28 knots / 32 mph broke the previous daily record

of 27 knots / 31 mph set in 1963.

Day 29 - The daily maximum temperature of -41.7°C / -43.1°F broke the previous daily record

of -43.9°C / -47.0 F° set in 1991.

- The daily peak wind speed of 30 knots / 34 mph broke the previous daily record

of 29 knots / 33 mph set in 1963.

PREPARED BY: Nathan Tift and Meghan Prentiss

Katie Wallet

Supervisor of Science

Spotsylvania County Schools