Annual Climate Summary for 2022 South Pole Station, Antarctica Temperature: Average temp... -49.5°C / -57.1°F Maximum temp... -17.6°C / 0.3°F on 22 January Minimum temp... -73.5°C / -100.3°F on 15 July The average temperature for 2022 was 0.2°C/1.4°F colder than the Climatological Average of -49.3°C/-56.7°F Wind: Average wind speed.......... 11.1 mph or 9.6 knots Prevailing wind direction... Grid Northeast Maximum wind speed.......... 42 mph or 36 knots on 17 October Maximum wind direction...... Grid North Average vectored wind....... 038 degrees at 7.2 knots The average wind speed for 2022 was 1.0 mph/0.9 knots less than the Climatological Average of 12.1 mph/10.5 knots Station Pressure: Average pressure... 679.8 mb Highest pressure... 705.4 mb on 9 February Lowest pressure.... 660.4 mb on 20 August The average pressure for 2022 was 1.3 mb lower than the Climatological Average of 681.1 mb Physio-altitude: Average physio-alt = 10636 ft/ 3242 m Highest physio-alt = 11376 ft/ 3467 m on 20 August Lowest physio-alt = 9684 ft/ 2952 m on 9 February Sky Cover: Average cloud cover (8ths)... 5 Days clear................... 79 Days partly cloudy........... 163 Days cloudy.................. 123 Sunshine: Sunset on 22 March, Sunrise on 22 September Average hours per day(for period Sun was up)... 16.2 Percent of possible..... 68 Visibility: 20 days with visibility of 1/4 mile or less. Balloon flight data: Number of soundings for the year..... 527 Average height of soundings.......... 49.3 mb, or 22987 meters Highest sounding..................... 3.7 mb, or 38622 meters on 14 December 00Z flight **RECORDS** January 2022 Day 3: Peak Wind Gust of 28 kts / 32 mph breaks the previous daily peak wind gust of 24 kts / 28 mph previously set in 1990. Day 8: Peak wind gust of 26 kts / 30 mph breaks the previous daily peak wind gust record of 22 kts / 25 mph previously set in 2002. Day 15: The daily low of 34.6°C / -30.3°F breaks the previous daily record low of 34.4 °C / 29.9 °F previously set in 1995. Day 22: The daily high temperature of -17.6°C / +0.3°F breaks the previous daily record high of -19.2°C / -2.6°F previously set in 2019. Day 23: The daily high temperature of -20.5°C / -4.9°F breaks the previous daily record high of -20.9°C / -5.6°F previously set in 1967. February 2022 Day 05: Peak wind gust of 26 kts / 30 mph breaks the previous daily high peak wind gust of 24 kts / 28 mph previously set in 1989. Day 05: Daily average wind speed of 17.3 kts / 19.9 mph breaks the previous daily high average wind speed of 14.4 kts / 16.6 mph previously set in 1978. Day 07: Daily average wind speed 14.8kts/17.1mph; breaks previous record high of 13.6kts/15.7mph set in 1991. March 2022 Day 02: 5.3mph / 4.6kts breaks previous record for lowest daily avg. wind of 5.5mph/ 4.8kts set in 1982. Day 08: Minimum temperature of -63.5C/ -82.3F breaks previous record of -63.3C/ -81.9F set in 1982. Day 12: Average wind of 2.7mph/ 2.3kts breaks previous record for lowest daily average wind of 3.3mph/ 2.9kts set in 1985. Day 13: Average wind speed of 1.6mph/ 1.4kts breaks previous record for lowest daily average wind speed of 5.4mph/ 4.7kts set in 2020. Day 28: The Daily Peak Wind Gust of 31 kts / 36 mph ties the previous record high peak wind of the same value previously set in 2001. April 2022 The monthly average sky cover of 5/8ths coverage ties record for maximum average cloud cover set in 2006. May 2022 Day 06: Lowest average wind of 5.1mph/ 4.4kts breaks previous record of 6.2mph/ 5.4kts set in 1985. June 2022 Day 29: Lowest daily average wind of 4.1mph/ 3.6kts breaks previous record of 5.2mph/ 4.5kts set in 2021. Day 30: Daily average wind of 3.8mph/ 3.3kts breaks the previous daily average low wind speed record of 4.6mph/ 4.0kts previously set in 1964. July 2022 No records were tied or broken during the month. August 2022 Day 27: High temperature of -39.0°C / -38.2°F breaks the previous daily record high of -42°C / -43.6°F previously set in 1987 Day 28: High temperature of -38.0°C / -36.4°F breaks the previous daily record high of -40.5°C / -40.9°F previously set in 2014. Average monthly cloud cover of 6/8 ties the record for highest average cloud cover set in 2010. 20 total cloudy days for the month beats the previous record of 16 set in 2010. September 2022 Day 29: Low temperature of -71.0℃/ -95.8℉ breaks the previous record of -70.8℃/ -95.4℉ set in 1973. October 2022 Day 17: Daily peak wind gust of 36 kts / 42 mph breaks the previous daily peak wind of 33 kts / 38 mph set in 1990. Day 17: Average wind of 22.1 kts/ 25.4mph breaks the previous highest average wind of 21.3kts/ 24.5 mph set in 1990. November 2022 Day 16: Minimum temperature of -46.0°C/-50.8°F broke the record of -45.7°C/-50.3°F previously set in 1987. Day 17: Minimum temperature of -45.1°C/-49.2°F tied the record previously set in 1999. Day 18: Minimum temperature of -45.2°C/-49.4°F broke the record of -44.7°C/-48.5°F previously set in 1985. Day 27: Peak wind of 32mph/28kts broke the record of 29mph/26kts previously set in 1971. December 2022 Day 11: Highest average wind speed of 23.5 mph/20.4 kts broke the record of 22.4 mph/19.5 kts previously set in 2015. Day 22: Lowest average wind speed of 0.8mph/0.7kts broke the record of 2.8mph/2.5kts previously set in 1987. Number of Partly Cloudy days for December was 23 days, breaking the previous record of 21 days previously set in 2019.