Well for what feels like a change, especially after last months chill, it was a little warmer than average for the month just gone. The sun visited the usual amount and no surprise the snowfall was predictably, disappointingly, significantly below average. What had us break out the beanie clips though was the record windy month. I know I say record a lot, but fair dinkum, we had six (non-consecutive) days worth of category three cyclone winds with the main event, category four! Stoic as I am however, I held the fort at the met station, surviving off ration packs while the rest of the crew lived it up in the red shed with the chef, playing Pictionary. Mind you, I did treat myself towards the end of my second day of isolation with spam and camembert on stale crackers. “Mmmm…” — all the healthy food groups: fat, salt and carbs.
If the hive of activity that has become the station in preparation for the upcoming works and sciences programs was not enough indicator of the impending summer, then another positive temperature was surely a reminder it is not too far off. The mercury reaching a balmy 1.0°C on the 28 September, with the average daily maximum getting into single digits at −9.1°C, 0.7°C above average. The daily minimum temperatures were also warmer than average at −15.6°C, 1.5°C above the norm, while the lowest temperature for the month of −27.1°C — not feeling quite as chilly after the past couple months.
Fortunately it was indeed a little warmer this month as we did spend a fair bit more time outdoors, picking up debris and making repairs after all the windy conditions. We had 20 strong wind, 18 gale force wind and six blizzard days — above average for all. The daily wind run of 1150 km was the highest daily wind run recorded for any month, by a long shot; the next windiest month was 1099 km in July 2009. Our impressive maximum wind gust of 232 kph (125 kts) on the 19th was in amongst four days of 150 km/h plus winds and wasn’t too far shy of the annual 241 kph record (interestingly it wasn’t even a blizzard due to there not being enough snow). To prove it was every bit a category four cyclone there were a few scars around station; doors blown off hinges, containers tipped and we weren’t spared in Met with debris cracking our satellite dome and the mast with GPS antenna toppling over. On a bright note however, thanks to Scotty’s self collapsing design, the new birthday sign stayed put.
So as not to break from tradition, we always save the last paragraph for the underwhelming rainfall figures and it was indeed miserly this month: 4.4 mm of snowmelt, a quarter of the 17.3 mm average. That was over five snow days, one of which was three millimetres meaning the rest was just a tease to those wishing to get back out on the ski loop. Can’t complain about the sun though, as the average of three hours sun a day was just a little ray of sunshine more than the average of 2.9 hours.
Steve B