27 August, 2001

Weekly Climate Summary - South Pole Station, Antarctica

17 August 2001 through 23 August 2001 UTC

Temperature:

Average Temp... -61.8°C / -79.2°F

Maximum Temp... -40.4°C / -40.7°F on day 23

Minimum Temp... -74.6°C / -102.3°F on day 21

Wind:

Average wind speed.......... 14.9 mph or 13.0 knots

Prevailing wind direction... Grid Northeast

Maximum wind speed.......... 38 mph or 33 knots on day 22

Maximum wind direction...... Grid North

Average vectored wind....... 051 degrees at 9.5 knots

Station Pressure:

Average pressure... 678.9 mbs

Highest pressure... 690.5 mbs on day 18

Lowest pressure.... 664.4 mbs on day 23

Physio-altitude:

Average physio-alt = 10670 ft/ 3252 m

Highest physio-alt = 11222 ft/ 3420 m on day 23

Lowest physio-alt = 10235 ft/ 3120 m on day 18

Sky Cover:

Average cloud cover (8ths)... 3

Days clear................... 4

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

Days cloudy.................. 1

Sunshine:

Sunrise on 22 September 2001

Average hours per day... 0.0

Percent of possible..... 0

Visibility:

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

Balloon flight data:

Number of soundings for the period... 14

Average height of soundings.......... 141.8 mb, or 14066 meters Highest sounding..................... 8.3 mb, or 28141 meters

on day 20/00Z flight

0 soundings were missed.

14 soundings were terminated due to balloon burst.

**RECORDS**

Day 20 - The daily minimum temperature of -73.7°C / -100.7°F broke the previous daily record of -73.2°C / -99.8°F set in 1990.

Day 21 - The daily minimum temperature of -74.6°C / -102.3°F broke the previous daily record of -73.0°C / -99.4°F set in 1982.

Katie Wallet

Supervisor of Science

Spotsylvania County Schools