Today gave me a bit of a taste of the wicked winds that can blow down here. Fortunately, it was above zero and snowy so the wind chill was above zero. I must say that when we get sustained winds down here, those winds drive little ice crystals through the air that seem to slice into your eyes and skin. The volcanic dirt doesn't help either.
We are currently experiencing Condition Three weather conditions which means that our winds are less than 55 mph, wind chills are warmer than -75 F and visibility is greater than ¼ mile. Not sure how much we are above ¼ mile, but it can't be much! Condition Two is defined by one or more of the following conditions: 1) wind speeds between 55-63 mph, 2) wind chills of -75 F to -100 F (yes, those are below zero temps), 3) visibility of less than ¼ mile. Condition One is the worst and is characterized by one or more of the following: 1) winds greater than 63 mph, 2) wind chills colder than -100 F, 3) visibility of less than 100 feet.
Bottom line? Condition Three is considered "nice" weather. I'll let you be the judge. Here are a couple of pictures looking out across the sea ice during nicer Condition Three conditions. When you see a panning of the horizon in the iMovie, Kamille was filming the same location. Certainly looks completely different, doesn't it??
You can see the runway on the sea ice.
The ice runway below.
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