ABOVE: (top) Yesterday’s weather report for McMurdo, showing most areas under Condition 1. Under Condition 1, no travel is allowed, and all persons must be accounted for.
The weather changes constantly at McMurdo, and can go from being relatively benign to deadly very quickly. Here, the weather is classified into three categories. McMurdo residents are kept informed of the current conditions through the McMurdo intranet, a television weather channel, and a scrolling sign in the main building. We’ve been in Condition 2 for the past 2 days. It’s been much worse at the drillsite, where they’ve reached Condition 1. The drilling and core recovery has continued through this, but it’s not been possible to deliver core from the drillsite to McMurdo. As a result, we’re not too busy now. The downside is that we’ll have an awful lot of catching up to do when conditions improve.
The three conditions are defined as follows:
Severe Weather Condition 1 is issued when at least one of the following conditions is occurring or imminent: (1) Sustained wind speed greater than 55 knots, (2) Wind chill temperature colder than -100°F (-73°C), or (3) Visibility is less than 100 feet.
Severe Weather Condition 2 is issued when at least one of the following conditions is occurring or imminent: (1) Sustained wind speed 48 knots to 55 knots, (2) Wind chill temperature -75°F (-60°C) to -100°F (-73°C), or (3) Visibility is 1/4 mile to 100 feet.
Severe Weather Condition 3 is issued when all conditions exceed criteria for Condition 2.
Until yesterday, we'd been almost continuously under Condition 3.
If you want to see what Condition 1 is like, I recommend this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz2SeEzxMuE
I hope I don't experience it!
