Rate the Climate: Bird Island, South Georgia (snow, warm, ice)
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This is a moderately cold climate year-round, featuring cold summers and cold winters, little variation between seasons, constant wind and storms, sunshine hours that are likely quite low, and the possibility of rain, sleet, and snow year-round. Summers are warm enough to melt the sea ice and snow pack but not warm enough for trees to grow, giving it a tundra climate. The all-time record high is 58 Fahrenheit and the all-time record low is 12 Fahrenheit.
I give it a B myself. Summers are cold but warm enough, and winters are too warm for my taste, but not too warm to preclude a decent rating.
Location: Kowaniec, Nowy Targ, Podhale. 666 m n.p.m.
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There's a reason that when South Georgia got settled, they did it in Grytviken, on not on Bird Island. Places on the Antarctic mainland have gotten warmer than that...
Temperatures aren't half bad, as far as human adaptablilty goes, and I'd prefer Bird Island over Wostok or Mars, but near-constant 50 to 100 mile an hour winds, near constant rain, sleet and snow in temperatures around the freezing point as well as an enormous deficit in sunshine would really get to one's psyche... I know it would to mine...
As you have included the option to vote "E" I guess that's what this climate would get, as I prefer to reserve the vote "F" for places where humans are incapable of surviving without aid or tremendous changes to the environment, such as Wostok or Mars. Still, of all the climates capable of supporting human life, this must be among the worst, right up there with Dallol, and worse than Wrangel Island, Barrow or Singapore...
Yes, i could deal with Grytviken/King Edward Point. Not bird island though. The east coast at least has comprehendable levels of sunshine, suvivevable winds, and the potential for a couple of days of 20c+ temps a year, so a D maybe.
Location: Kowaniec, Nowy Targ, Podhale. 666 m n.p.m.
355 posts, read 977,083 times
Reputation: 497
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaul
very nice. I can live here year round.
Well, summer or winter don't really make a difference there... Imagine the Western Highlands of Scotland, or the Hebrides, or even the bloody Aleutians, and the kind of weather you get there in October-November is your summer on Bird Island, and the kind of weather you get in these aforementioned places in December-January is your winter on Bird Island...
Only, the frequency of bad storms is about three times higher... There is a reason that South Georgia isn't as populated as say, for example, Svalbard... Even Longyearbyen gets nicer weather during most of the four seasons...
0C/32F with constant 50 mph winds and driving rain/sleet/snow is downright hostile. The Aleutians will seem like the effing Florida Keys compared to that climate...
Personally, I'd much rather have 40 below with calm winds and beautiful sunshine...
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