WinFly Weather

So far, we've had a surprisingly mild WinFly. WinFly stands for Winter Fly-In; it's one of hundreds of abbreviations we have here that came from the Navy.  It's the period of time after winter and before Mainbody when the bulk of the summer population arrives.

WinFly goes from mid-August to early October and the population is about 460 - 29.6% of whom are women.  The population is made up of remaining winterovers who will leave in October and about 300 new folks, who are remarkably tan, with-it and perky in comparison.

I expected the winterovers to be resentful of us, crusty and grumpy, but I've only heard a few grumbles about the increased population, the onslaught of cold viruses and the fact that we are eating THEIR salad and fruit.  The more sane winterovers told us that it was a mild, snowy, blowy winter that was made more pleasant by the giant shipment of freshies that came mid-winter with a medevac flight - but certainly, even these folks are ready to go after seeing only white and feeling only cold for nearly 9 months.

WinFly is known for its super-cold temperatures, storms and nacreous clouds.  We hadn't seen much of the cold temperatures.  Temps had been hovering around 0F/-18C with wind chills getting down to -15F/-26C or so.  That all changed yesterday.  Here are today and tonight's forecasts:

   

We've seen some nice, but mild displays of nacreous clouds, but nothing like these. Photos were taken by a winterover.

The nacreous clouds pictured here might be the Type II Polar Stratospheric Clouds, which require temperatures of -125F/-85C. They are more vibrant than the ones we've seen recently, which might have been Type I, which show up in warmer temperatures and have to do with a reduction in the ozone layer, Check out this website: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/psc1.htm for more photos and descriptions.

McMurdo Night and Pole Air Drop

This is my 7th season at McMurdo Station, Antarctica but the first time I've ever seen the stars from here. Normally, I arrive for the main season in October, when the sun is about ready to start circling the sky for 5 months without setting. But this year, I have the opportunity to see the transition from the long, dark winter to summer. We arrived on August 27th, after a very relaxing 4 day delay in Christchurch. At that time, the sun was rising at about 9:45 AM and setting at about 4:00 PM. It was a bit hard to tell because of the heavy cloud cover and blowing snow. Now - just one week later, the sun rises at 9:11 AM and sets at 4:38 PM.


During the day, the light is soft and the mountains glow pink. The sunsets take at least an hour. On the walk home from work, we can see the moon and stars shining brightly and the lovely silhouette of the local feature, Observation Hill, with its cross on top commemorating Robert Scott.


When you add in the surprisingly warm temperatures, oodles of snow on the ground and moments of only light wind, it is magical! I've never heard people talk so much about the beauty of this place as I have in the last week. There is loads of snow around (due to the fact that they had such a warm winter...they don't get snow if it's too cold.) and everything looks relatively clean and white.


I feel very lucky to be here...and now that the NSF has made an agreement with the Russians on an icebreaker, I also feel relieved to know that I'll be able to stay until February.


On another note, one of the C-17 aircraft that came in recently continued on to the South Pole to do an air drop mission of medications (and oranges!). Here are some photos:

Inside the C-17. Getting ready to drop the load.

Note that the temperatures on the ground at the South Pole have been about -85 F/-65 C and the sun has not yet risen over the horizon (that will occur on Sept 21 at 5:48 pm). The crew at the Station lit giant flares to give the plane a target. (AlmaMia: an interesting fire gig for you???)

Burn barrels glowing in the drop zone.

The Air Drop

Michiel's First Winfly season. (August 2010)

A sunset on the mountains, with the airstrip in the foreground.

Winfly, which stands for Winter Fly in, starts at the beginning of August and is supposed to bring McMurdo a small group of people who will be making the preparations for the masses that follow in October. Personally I think that the reason is also to be able to ship some people off continent who misbehaved, didn't perform well, got (home)sick or otherwise needed to leave as soon as possible.

I cannot believe that I have always been so reluctant to come at this time. It has proven to be a great way to start my new season. The nights are still real nights, with real darkness and stars and a chance to see auroras (no luck for me there) and beautiful nacreous clouds. There are very few people on station, compared to summer time and you can find terrific skua** stuff. I also found it interesting to be apart from Sheri for the first time in years and had to get used to rooming with a stranger. Having been away for a season, I felt a new appreciation for this place and all its little perks and quirks which I hoped would last for the season. (which, in retrospect was a very naive wish).

Nacreous Clouds

**A Skua is a scavenger seabird - one of the few types of birds we see on station and is mostly known for dive-bombing unsuspecting carriers of blue trays with food from the dining hall.  Skua is also known in McMurdo as an item that has been donated to the community for re-use.  There are "skua" bins on every hall and pretty much anything that hasn't been nailed or chained down and doesn't have a sign on it saying "NOT SKUA" is skua.

Uses:  "I found some great skua today.  Check out this sweater!" 
Can also be used as a verb:  "I skua'ed this North Face jacket.  It is in almost new condition!"

Skua is a way-of-life and an obsession for many (including Michiel, who cannot pass a skua bin without peeking inside)  We've all talked about how great it would be to have skua in the "outside world".