Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 2000-01: VUWAE 45

9 Weather

Provide a general overview of your local weather throughout the season and how this aided or hindered your party movements and decisions.

Allan Hills:

The weather at Allan Hills this season was generally very snowy compared to last season. The snow was 'real' precipitation in that it often occurred during fairly low wind conditions and therefore was unlikely to have been blown in from the plateau. When we arrived there on Nov 22 the daily temperature was around −17°C, but warmed up rapidly until it was about −8 to −10°C when we left in early December. Wind conditions were generally moderate (10-15 kts) most of the time but became quite windy on occasion (>20 kts) - wind direction was from the south. We experienced several days of low visibility which prevented helo arrivals - this was different from last year when we had mostly clear, sunny skies.

Mount Feather:

We experienced mainly poor weather conditions at Mt. Feather (ground-level, dense cloud and much blowing snow), but there is a very clear pattern to the weather there. Mornings are often clear or partly cloudy with good visibility, but by 11 am cloud builds up at ground level (2500 m), dropping visibility to 20-50 m and completely preventing any helo activity. This weather is local to Mt. Feather, however, and during brief glimpses through the cloud we could see that adjacent valleys (Ferrar, Taylor) were largely clear. Mt. Feather is so high that it produces its own weather (a summit cloud). We received several heavy snowfalls during our stay there and temperatures hovered around −18 to −20°C. Winds were often <25 kts and blew exclusively from the north/northeast - this is uncommon for Mt. Feather where the winds are often much stronger and southerly.

Table Mountain:

Weather conditions at Table Mtn. were somewhat similar to those at Allan Hills, but less windy and with lower visibility. Temperatures there were around −8 to −12°C and the wind blew from the page 7 north <10 kts. We received quite a bit of snowfall and for about half the time the weather deteriorated to conditions somewhat similar to those at Mt. Feather with low visibility due to ground-level cloud and falling snow.