When the Mercury Touched New Depths

As it always happens, the mercury began its downward journey soon after the weather cleared up about a week ago. But now it is having a free fall. 3 days back it reached -28ºC, next day it breached the 30ºC barrier. The mid winter day saw temperatures fall to -30.2º. It had been 4 days since most of us left the station. Nobody would dare to do so unless it is absolutely essential. Around 10:30 on the mid winter day, I went out to take photographs and videos of the station as it appears during the mid winter day. I was fully covered. But as soon as I stepped out, I had a bout of coughing. Then the cold struck me hard. My lungs had gone into a spasm. When I had recovered, I went over to the helipad, set my tripod and camera, and took some photographs of the station, the glacier and the view of the sun trying to rise. The glow of the sun could be seen towards the north, as if it was making an effort to come out, when it was the brightest hour of the day. It was a weak effort. The sun was bound to fail and soon sank again without showing its face. By the time I finished taking the photographs, my hands and feet were frozen stiff inspite of multiple layers of gloves and socks. The tripod would not close because ice had formed at the joints. Frost was also forming on the camera. I tucked it inside my dungaree to protect it. I was not wearing a cap but I did not feel much discomfort. I was probably well acclimatized to the cold. On going inside I discovered that my hands and feet had turned blue. It took a while for them to recover their normal colour and sensation. Over the next 2 days, the temperature continued its downward journey, touching -32º the next day, and -34°C the next. It shows no signs of let up. The lowest recorded at Maitri is -36. It seems like that record will be broken soon, with no signs of a low pressure hitting us in the near future.

At such temperatures, a peculiar phenomenon is seen. If one touches a metal with bare hands, the metal sticks to the skin. This is because the thin layer of water vapour close to skin freezes. There are numerous cases at Maitri of nails sticking to the tongue of a person carrying out some logistic task in the open. Another phenomenon that is supposed to occur at temperatures below -35º is that if one throws hot water in the air, it falls down as ice. This one remains to be tried.

There is nothing abnormal about these temperatures, except 2 things- one, such temperatures are seen in July and August, which are the coldest months. Two, this month, the highest temperature recorded was -3º. Both temperatures are unusual, and could well be a record for the month of June.