How is Antarctica weather compared to Canada or the US Northeast?

[boulders]

I'm thinking about an Antarctica trip over Christmas next year. It would go to the Falklands and South Georgia as well. From what I've seen, the temps in the Falklands are about 8 degrees Celsius (high 40's Fahrenheit), though today the weather forecast says it is 14 Celsius, Antarctica is around zero (32 Fahrenheit) and South Georgia is somewhere in between. Those temps sound pretty balmy for this time of year to a Canadian. The cruiseline's recommendation for multilayers, parkas, double gloves etc, sound kind of overkill for those temps. For those of you who live in the US Northeast (where I lived for several years) or Canada - how does the weather in Antarctica compare?

 

Between living in the northeast and moving back to Canada, we lived in Minnesota for several years where it got down to minus 25 Celsius or minus 30 Fahrenheit each winter. Frankly, anything above zero Fahrenheit sounds fine to me, but maybe there is more windchill in Antarctica?

[dfb]

I live in NC, so a rather mild climate but 4 seasons. I don't like the cold so I was worried about Antarctica. I followed the packing directions more or less. I was comfortable and never too cold with a thin pair of CuddleDuds long underwear, a cotton turtleneck, a pair of sweatpants, a pair of thin waterproof pants and the provided parka with knit hat and liner gloves (waterproof mittens on rough tender rides), 2 pair of socks (one thin, one heavy) and a pair of rubber boots. I thought while in Antarctica in February that it was cold. It was almost always just at or near freezing. That was cold for me, but I was always comfortable.

 

I just got back from Churchill Manitoba 2 weeks ago as a comparison. That is cold! It was at or below 0 degrees F most of the time. I wore heavy insulated long underwear, a lot more clothes and insulated waterproof boots and I thought I would suffer frostbite almost the entire time. It was the coldest I can ever remember being. The windchill was much worse than anything we experienced in Antarctica because it never snowed there or blew snow. In Churchill, the wind blew constantly with sideways blowing snow, with little stinging ice particles, with big wet falling flakes. It was always blowing some kind of snow in sub-freezing temps.

 

I agree if you are accustomed to weather like we had November 11 to 17, then you will find Antarctica in their summer to be pretty balmy!

[dpro]

I'm thinking about an Antarctica trip over Christmas next year. It would go to the Falklands and South Georgia as well. From what I've seen, the temps in the Falklands are about 8 degrees Celsius (high 40's Fahrenheit), though today the weather forecast says it is 14 Celsius, Antarctica is around zero (32 Fahrenheit) and South Georgia is somewhere in between. Those temps sound pretty balmy for this time of year to a Canadian. The cruiseline's recommendation for multilayers, parkas, double gloves etc, sound kind of overkill for those temps. For those of you who live in the US Northeast (where I lived for several years) or Canada - how does the weather in Antarctica compare?

 

Between living in the northeast and moving back to Canada, we lived in Minnesota for several years where it got down to minus 25 Celsius or minus 30 Fahrenheit each winter. Frankly, anything above zero Fahrenheit sounds fine to me, but maybe there is more windchill in Antarctica?

 

We experienced colder weather when we lived in Connecticut than we ever did in AA. Many days we were in shirtsleeves on deck. The coldest times were in the zodiacs with the wind chill, which only lasted until we reached shore or got back on board. On some windy days we wore just a shell on decks and were very comfortable with that. We went overboard on the clothing and extra layers, after the first outing we dropped about half of our layers and were comfortable after that. When we went to SG and the Falklands we wore just a long sleeve shirt and a very light sweater.

 

It should be a summer excursion for you based on where you have lived.

 

RonC

[dileep]

In January 2010, we had mild weather - between 30 and 50 degrees F most of the time, but we also had more rain and snow flurries than "normal"!

 

webcam and current temps on King George Island at

http://www.aipchile.gob.cl/camara_ubicacion/show/designador/SCRM

[cougfan]

When I was in Antarctica Nov-Dec 2010 the only time that it was really cold was on our first landing at Deception Island. The snow was blowing sideways so we had quite the wind chill. After that landing the weather was sunny and mostly calm. While on the nice weather landings a lot of the people took off the parka when they got off of the zodiac. I usually wore long underware, fleece pants and shirt, water proof pants on bottom and parka on top. I purchased Muck insulated boots for the landing so only had to wear one pair of wool socks with them. These were really nice and my feet never got cold or wet.

 

I am not sure that it was colder than around 30°F for the entire trip.

 

For my hands I had brought some waterproof mittens to go over some liner type gloves that I took (originally bought for bike riding). After the first landing I never used the mittens, they were just to clumsy for taking pictures.

 

Julie

[dileep]

It was warm enough for the ocean dip on Deception Island :D:D!

Actually some of us even used the ships pool on the couple of days that the temps were above 50 deg F!

[peterscot]

"sound pretty balmy"

 

Yep, I can confirm it is pretty balmy, for the Falklands....

 

However, the weather here and in Antarctica can change in an instant, and there is little or no shelter. So, it's wise to take more than you need and stuff it in a daybag if not required.

 

Worst case, you make a landing and then get stuck ashore for a few hours due to high winds. You'd feel a bit daft in thin clothes.

[elpam]

Just returned from Antarctica and it was between 37 and 43 degrees, crystal clear sunny, dry. Never used heavy gloves or hat. thin long underwear and waterproof pants were more than enough with parka, light hat, silk liner gloves or mittens with finger pull backs. Deception Island the only cooler landing and cloudy skies.

[dileep]

Just returned from Antarctica and it was between 37 and 43 degrees, crystal clear sunny, dry. Never used heavy gloves or hat. thin long underwear and waterproof pants were more than enough with parka, light hat, silk liner gloves or mittens with finger pull backs. Deception Island the only cooler landing and cloudy skies.

 

We just returned on Sunday and had great weather too. We did not use all the layers we thought we would. There were some landings where I left my jacket on shore and walked about to see the penguin nests.

[Kununoppin]

We just returned from Antarctica last week. On the Antarctic Peninsula and Islands, most days were a high of 30F-35F. Lowest temp was 10F.

 

Wind is the biggest problem. Make sure to have windproof outer garments, including hat, jacket, pants and gloves.

 

We prepared with the clothing layers that were recommended by the cruise co (Silversea). I was NEVER cold . . . but I was hot several times . . . and we're from Arizona.