The Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914Mawson, Douglas, Sir
History
The Home of the Blizzard: Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
Mawson, Douglas, Sir
Antarctica -- Discovery and exploration; Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)
Before the art of "hurricane-walking" was learnt, and in the primitive
days of ice-nails and finnesko, progression in high winds degenerated
into crawling on hands and knees. Many of the more conservative
persisted in this method, and, as a compensation, became the first
exponents of the popular art of "board-sliding." A small piece of board,
a wide ice flat and a hurricane were the three essentials for this new
sport.
Wind alone would not have been so bad; drift snow accompanied it in
overwhelming amount. In the autumn overcast weather with heavy falls
of snow prevailed, with the result that the air for several months was
seldom free from drift. Indeed, during that time, there were not
many days when objects a hundred yards away could be seen distinctly.
Whatever else happened, the wind never abated, and so, even when the
snow had ceased falling and the sky was clear, the drift continued until
all the loose accumulations on the hinterland, for hundreds of miles
back, had been swept out to sea. Day after day deluges of drift streamed
past the Hut, at times so dense as to obscure objects three feet away,
until it seemed as if the atmosphere were almost solid snow.
[TEXT ILLUSTRATION]
A comparison of wind-velocities and temperatures prevailing at Cape
Royds, Mcmurdo Sound, and at winter quarters, Adelie Land, during the
months of May and June
At the time of plotting only the above two months were available, but
they are enough to illustrate the unusually severe winter conditions of
Adelie Land. The data for Cape Royds is that supplied by the Shackleton
Expedition. The solid black line refers to Adelie Land, the broken line
to Cape Royds. It will be noted that whereas the average temperature
conditions are closely similar at both stations, only on three days
during the period did the average wind velocity at Cape Royds reach that
of the lowest daily value of Adelie Land.
Picture drift so dense that daylight comes through dully, though,
maybe, the sun shines in a cloudless sky; the drift is hurled, screaming
through space at a hundred miles an hour, and the temperature is below
zero, Fahrenheit.** You have then the bare, rough facts concerning
the worst blizzards of Adelie Land. The actual experience of them is
another thing.
** Temperatures as low as -28 degrees F.
(60 degrees below freezing-point) were experienced in hurricane winds,
which blew at a velocity occasionally exceeding one hundred miles per
hour. Still air and low temperatures, or high winds and moderate
temperatures, are well enough; but the combination of high winds and low
temperatures is difficult to bear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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