South Pole climate · Climate in South Pole
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Climate in South Pole
Climate in South Pole
It's tempting to say that the climate at the South Pole is consistently bone-chilling cold, but it is not. In December it is bone-chilling cold, with an average temperature of around -28℃ (-18℉). However In July it is astonishingly bone-chilling cold, with temperatures sagging to -80℃ (-112℉). (Note that there are no "day-time highs" or "night-time lows" in these figures, because the sun only sets and rises once each year.) Snowfall is scarce; since weather systems rarely penetrate into inland Antarctica and because the temperature is often too low, hence its desert status. The existing snow does drift, however, with winds averaging a modest 12 knots. (At these temperatures, calculating wind-chill factors is fairly pointless.) Antarctica is the coldest, windiest continent on Earth and as such an expedition there surely carries a risk of danger. Freak snowstorms and white conditions (both caused by high winds) can affect South Pole expeditions and have buried the ceremonial South Pole markers (they have to be bulldozed out of the snow usually).
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about South Pole
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in South Pole - updated Apr 2024
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South Pole Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.