Antarctic weather records: Davis station
In this segment we bring you highlights of the recent weather experienced at each of Australia’s Antarctic stations in turn. Last issue we brought you Mawson Station, the western outpost, and we now move eastwards to Davis station.
Weather extremes at Davis for the year 2000
| Extreme | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Highest air pressure | 1009.8 hPa | December |
| Lowest air pressure | 954.6 hPa | September |
| Highest daily minimum temperature | 0.6°C | 30 November |
| Lowest daily minimum temperature | -30.1°C | 21 May |
| Lowest maximum temperature | -27.3°C | 20 May |
| Highest maximum temperature | 5.8°C | 24 November |
| Highest maximum wind gust | ENE @ 163km/h (88 knots) |
Weather phenomena
| Phenomena | Number of days | % of the year |
|---|---|---|
| Strong wind (= >22 knots) | 103 | 28 |
| Gales (= >34 knots) | 39 | 11 |
| Blizzard | 14 | 4 |
| Snow fall | 113 | 31 |
| Blowing snow (=< 1km) | 15 | 4 |
A blizzard is defined as a period of > one hour when the visibility is reduced below 100m by blowing snow, the temperature is < 0°C and the wind speed is >33 kts.
Month by month overview of 2000, and of the six months to June 2001
January 2000
An average month weatherwise.
February 2000
Noticeably windier than usual but otherwise an average month.
March 2000
Slightly windier than average.
April 2000
Highest monthly snowfall (51.4mm) for any month at Davis since records began in 1957.
May and June 2000
Average months weatherwise.
July 2000
Almost twice as much snow fell (13.4mm) as the long term July average (6.8mm).
August 2000
Another average month.
September 2000
A warmer than average month with a mean maximum temperature of −10.6°C and a mean minimum temperature of −16.8°C compared to the long term means of −13.2°C and −20. 1°C respectively.
October and November 2000
Reasonably average months.
December 2000
A sunny month, with an average 14.2 hours per day of bright sunshine compared to the long- term mean of 9.7 hours.
January and February 2001
Windier than normal.
March 2001
The number of days (17) on which snow was observed was a record since observations began in 1957. Note though that the total precipitation for the month was slightly below average.
April 2001
Twice as many days of strong wind (11) and gales (5) compared to the long term averages of 6.1 and 2.6 days, respectively.
May 2001
A windy month with the average daily wind-speed (23.3km/h) only 0.7km/h below the previous highest value of 24.0km/h.
June 2001
An average June weatherwise.
Steve Pendlebury
Bureau of Meteorology, Hobart
Data contributed by Joe Hopkins and Philip Smart, Senior Observers at Davis 2000 and 2001 respectively.