Monday, May 12, 2008

...and Warmer

Not long after the cold snap, it got very warm, very quickly.

The temperature soared above -40C (-40F), but much to everyone's surprise, it remained clear and calm outside. Usually warm periods come with wind and clouds, but not this time, leaving us free to take photos of the crystal clear sky for hours on end. (And to be fair, this was more of a tropical heatwave than a warm period.)
Several pipes in the belly of the station, which had (unbeknownst to anyone on station) frozen solid and burst during the cold, thawed out fairly quickly, and at 4am one morning an alarm went off to let us know we had dropped over a thousand gallons of water through the floor.

After weeks at -70C, -40 feels hot. Not cold, cool, comfortable, or even warm. Hot. Walking over to DSL every day felt like walking through an oven, and I rarely had my hat on or jacket zipped by the time I got there.

I'm kind of afraid of positive temperatures now, and can't really imagine what they must feel like.