Nope – Back to the Farm

It looked hopeful that we’d get to fly, briefly.  Word was that they were starting to sweep the runway.  However, just before noon, they cancelled our flight.  I suspect the snow was blowing back onto the runway as fast as they could remove it.  Thus, we headed back to the farm.  We stopped at a great Indian restaurant on the way for lunch!  We’ll try again at 7 am tomorrow morning.

McMurdo web cam at 2:30 pm, 25 November, Christchurch time
The web cam for McMurdo shows only high clouds, but on the right side, out on the sea ice there are some fuzzy looking buildings. (You'll have to click on the image to expand it to full size to see them.)  That’s where the runway is.  They look fuzzy, more fuzzy than the mountains in the distance.  That’s probably the blowing snow.

Here's a picture of snow dune patterns on the sea ice from 2009:

Patterns on the sea ice, taken from a helicopter (scale unknown)

The wind has been blowing constantly from the south with strong gusts at Lake Vanda. It's probably indicative of the same weather system that is blowing the snow on the sea ice.



It’s raining in Christchurch.

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