Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 06:18
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IceCube: In-ice Antarctic Telescope

What's the coldest it got down there so far?

                              -Brandon Holland
Fri, 12/04/2009 - 11:27

Casey OHara

Hi Brandon,
 
Since I've been here, the coldest was about -40° F.  When the wind blows, it feels even colder because of "wind chill" - and the coldest wind chill since I've been here was about -60°F!  And it's summer time down here!  It's actually gotten warmer since I arrived, since we're getting later into the summer.
In the winter it can get much colder. It usually gets down to -100°F at some point in the winter, and the coldest ever recorded at the South Pole was -116°F. The highest temperature ever recorded here was 9°F, still well below freezing!
 
At another place in Antarctica, the Russian Vostok station, the lowest temperature ever recorded on earth was -129°F back in 1983!