Happenings:

Just a couple of tidbits of information about what's going on at The South Pole.

Last Friday we passed a solar milestone. According to our local NOAA representatives, the sun reached 18 degrees below the horizon which is the "canonical demarcation" (whatever that is) between dark and astronomical twilight (whatever that is). The take home message is that, in theory, we should have been able to see the faintest glow of twilight on the horizon. That theory doesn't account for high winds and obscured visibility. The moon has now returned so any faint glow on the horizon will be washed out by moonlight. The moon goes away again in two weeks and then we should start to see sunlight again with full sunrise coming sometime around 21 Sep but more importantly these stupid window coverings coming off around the 1st of Sep. YAY!

As we start to think about sunrise, the reality of rising temperatures comes with it. So far this season we haven't reached -100. If we don't, this will be the 2nd year in a row and the first time in the history of record keeping that S. Pole hasn't reached that mark for two consecutive years. The significance here is that lacking the -100 degree temps there will be no 300 club again this year.

Things in the power plant are going well. We're in the middle of preventive maintenance and repairs on one of the big engines. That should be wrapped up in a couple of days. There have been no major events and I hope to keep it that way.