Current South Pole Weather

Current South Pole Weather Data

Home | Experiments & Activities | Q&A | Travelogue | Pictures

2 May 2002

South Pole Weather Data

These data are the average of hourly measurements obtained at the South Pole Observatory between 0000 and 2300 UT on 30 Apr 2002

Air Temperature: -55.7 °C ( -68.3 °F )
Dew Point: -59.0 °C ( -74.2 °F )
Air Pressure: 687.09 mbar
Wind Speed: 4.4 m/s
Wind Direction: 107.9 degrees ( ESE )
Wind "Steadiness Factor": 98.7
Precipitation: 0 mm

For more information (or more data), see the NOAA page explaining these data.

Data for a whole year

This plot summarizes all of the data for 1998, and this plot summarizes 1999. From top to bottom, the abbreviations are:

PC = Precipitation
DP = Dew Point
TB = Temperature (low)
TA = Temperature (high)
PP = Pressure
SF = Wind "Steadiness Factor"
WS = Wind Speed
WD = Wind Direction

Here is a summary table with the average values for each month of 1998:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 SOUTH POLE               JAN    FEB    MAR    APR    MAY    JUN    JUL    AUG    SEP    OCT    NOV    DEC    1998
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Prevailing Wind           N      NE     NE     ENE    ESE    E      NNE    NE     ENE    NE     N      NNE    N  
   Direction
 Average Wind               4.5    4.4    5.2    4.9    6.1    5.0    6.2    5.5    5.1    5.2    6.6    3.6    5.2
   Speed (m/s)
 Maximum Wind               9      9      9     11     14     10     14     12     11     10     14      9     14  
   Speed (m/s)
 Direction of Max.        359      3     13      3    351    346      9    353     28     26      3     18    351  
   Wind (deg)
 Average Station          686.1  683.8  678.2  668.0  675.3  680.1  673.2  672.6  675.9  675.6  678.5  682.9  677.4
   Pressure (mb)
 Maximum Pressure         698    694    687    681    685    689    684    683    687    696    693    692    698  
   (mb)
 Minimum Pressure         680    675    664    658    653    666    659    660    664    662    667    670    653  
   (mb)
 Average Air              -27.5  -38.4  -53.0  -62.2  -58.0  -54.6  -59.1  -63.0  -62.2  -53.8  -36.4  -28.6  -50.0
   Temperature (deg C)
 Maximum Temperature      -20    -26    -42    -46    -35    -37    -44    -47    -46    -39    -23    -21    -20  
   (deg C)
 Minimum Temperature      -38    -52    -62    -73    -75    -69    -74    -73    -75    -66    -48    -34    -75  
   (deg C)
 Average Dewpoint         -30.4  -41.7  -56.3  -64.6  -61.0  -57.8  -61.8  -65.8  -65.4  -56.8  -39.2  -31.5  -52.9
   Temperature (deg C)
 Maximum Dewpoint         -23    -29    -45    -49    -37    -40    -46    -49    -49    -41    -26    -24    -23  
   Temperature (deg C)
 Minimum Dewpoint         -42    -55    -66    -76    -78    -73    -76    -76    -79    -69    -50    -37    -79  
   Temperature (deg C)
 Precipitation (mm)         0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0      0

Home | Experiments & Activities | Q&A | Travelogue | Pictures

HOME

CARA's research and education programs are supported in part by the National Science Foundation under a cooperative agreement, grant number NSF OPP 89-20223. © Copyright 1998,1999,2000 by Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica. This copyright applies to all web pages and images created by CARA. Check out CARA's organizational home page.

Questions? Comments? email us at caraweb@astro.uchicago.edu

Last modified Monday, 04-Dec-2000 16:35:14 CST
http://astro.uchicago.edu/cara/southpole.edu/weather2.html