Glossary of weather terms
The Casey sign in snow and high winds (Photo: Tod Iolovski)
Air temperature
Still air temperature measured in degrees Celsius. Below is a conversion to Fahrenheit.T (Fahrenheit) = T (Celsius) * 1.8 + 32
| Celcius | Fahrenheit |
|---|---|
| -40 | -40 |
| -35 | -31 |
| -30 | -22 |
| -25 | -13 |
| -20 | -4 |
| -15 | 5 |
| -10 | 14 |
| -5 | 23 |
| 0 | 32 |
| 5 | 41 |
| 10 | 50 |
| 15 | 59 |
| 20 | 68 |
Wind speed
The AWS measures wind speed in knots.
1 knot = 1 nautical mile/hour = 1.852 kilometres/hour = 0.514 metres/second.
Wind direction
Measures where the wind is coming from.
Air Pressure
Measured in hPa (hecto Pascals).
1000 hPa = 100,000 Pascal = 14.50 pounds per square inch = 750.0 mmHg = 0.9869 atmosphere.
Humidity
This is relative humidity in percent. That is the ratio of water content to the maximum amount of moisture in the air before it precipitates. In Antarctica, this maximum is quite small due to the low temperatures.
