INTENSE COLD IN ANTARCTICA.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19676, 20 July 1929, Page 15

INTENSE COLD IN ANTARCTICA.

EXPLORERS AWAIT SUN'S RETURN. KEROSENE FREEZES IN LAMPS. LBy Kcsbell Owen—Copyrighted 19-26 "by Xew York Times Company and St Loais "Post-Dispatch."'J (CTtTTEB PRESS ASSOCIATION—BT ELECTRIC •XSLEGEAPH—COPTKIGHT.) BAY OF WHALES, July 18. The last fortnight has been the coldest we have had, in fact, the average for July is the coldest ever reported from Antarctica, 50 degrees below zero, compared with Amundsen's August of 44 degrees below. Eleven out of the first i;j days averaged 00 below zero, with one day touching 70, and that is cold. When it is calm at 70 below there is no discomfort inside or out for a short while if warmly clad, for with our furclothing only the exposed parts of the face suffer, and when the nose is warmed by hand it soon becomes warm again. The only trouble is that, while wanning the nose, the hand freezes. One feels suddenly a bite on the fingertips as if it had been seized by a pair of tiny pincers. But, when the wind blows at all at low temperatures, then it is almost impossible to face it for moro than a few minutes at a time. To-day for instance, it is 50 below, the temperature to which we have become accustomed while walking, but there is a 10 miles wind and that wind whips around the face and causes intense pain. The nose continually suffers and the cheeks are nipped as if by tire. Cold without wind can be withstood, but cold with wind is impossible. The extreme cold does strange things. It is odd to stand outside and hear one's breath as it freezes. Tho barrier of snow contracted sharply, and all about us could be heard cracks* and snaps, where snow crystals let go under contraction. It was as weird as if the houses were built on an unstable element that was moving beneath our feet. So small are those cracks that we have never seen any of them except for a large crack just north of Camp Bay. The ice booms like distant guns at times, when large cracks apparently run across it. The guy wires on the antenna posts become taut as harp strings and hum when the slightest winds hit them. Coldest Weather Ahead. It has a curious effect on our lights also. The candles used under meteorological balloons must be warmed before they will burn outside for more than a few minutes. Incidentally, what is believed to bo a record observation in cold temperatures was made when a balloon was sent up on the day when the temperature was 70 below zero. Kerosene lanterns, when taken outside, freeze up, the mixture of kerosene and gasoline becoming as hard as ice. The rubber insulation on the wires gets so brittle that it breaks at the slightest touch and the porous rubber crumbles. Yes, it's cold, but our coldest weather is ahead of us. Still in two months the sun will begin to warm up this frozen land. It first appears on August 2nd, and everyone is looking forward to seeing that comfortable old globe loom above the horizon. The light in the north growß a little stronger every day.—Australian Press Association.

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