Typical operating window
November–February expedition windowSnow and ice persist year-round; expedition timing follows austral summer access, daylight, and logistics rather than fresh-snow seasonality.Verified planning context
Snow, weather and avalanche context
Historical patterns help you compare trips. They do not predict your week or replace the operator's daily decisions.
Strongest comparable snow evidence
54 mm SWE median · 48–61 mm interquartile rangeAntarctic catalogue reference ERA5-Land grid cellTier C · modelled estimate · low confidenceSnow character
polarWind slab, hard sastrugi, glacier ice, and localized fresh snow matter more than a destination-wide powder description.Public avalanche information
No public commercial avalanche bulletinExpedition teams require their own professional snow, glacier, weather, and rescue systems.Weather and flight context
Polar air, katabatic wind, and sparse observations create abrupt local changes and large forecast uncertainty.
- Katabatic wind
- Whiteout over featureless ice
- Extreme remoteness and cold
Meteorological reference area
Antarctic expedition catalogue context
- Includes
- Published expedition context and any named camp or measurement site.
- Excludes
- A continent-wide snowfall estimate.
- Elevation
- No verified operator-terrain elevation band is public. Each evidence value retains its site elevation.
Evidence pack
Measurements, claims and gaps stay separate.
Tier CModelled snowfall water equivalent54 mm SWE median · 48–61 mm interquartile range
- Site
- Antarctic catalogue reference ERA5-Land grid cell · -75.3000, -0.1000 · 5.5 km from Antarctic catalogue reference reference point
- Period
- Calendar years 1991–2020
- Completeness
- 360 monthly means; all 30 calendar years contain 12 values.
- Method
- ERA5-Land monthly mean daily snowfall accumulation was multiplied by calendar days and 1,000, then summed by calendar year.
- Limitation
- The catalogue point is not a tenure or representative measurement location. This unadjusted 0.1° reanalysis grid cell is not an observation, snow depth, or terrain-wide total. Grid elevation and wind redistribution can cause substantial local bias.
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data from 1950 to presentCopernicus Climate Change Service · accessed 2026-08-26
Monthly evidence
Each cell keeps its measurement type and unit. Reanalysis water equivalent is not snow depth. Text-only cells preserve a representative data gap.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.2 mm SWE | 3.2 mm SWE | 4.5 mm SWE | 3.8 mm SWE | 4.9 mm SWE | 5.7 mm SWE | 4.5 mm SWE | 3.4 mm SWE | 4.4 mm SWE | 4.3 mm SWE | 3.3 mm SWE | 2.1 mm SWE |
Commercial operator assessment
Operator assessment process not independently verifiedThe operator must assess current snow, avalanche terrain, weather, aircraft limits, and rescue options. No private operational plan is inferred.
Sources and evidence notes
- ERA5-Land hourly data from 1950 to presentCopernicus Climate Change Service · accessed 2026-08-25
- Antarctic meteorology and dataBritish Antarctic Survey · accessed 2026-08-25
- Published operator and trip inventoryHeliski International editorial team · accessed 2026-08-25
- ERA5-Land monthly averaged data from 1950 to presentCopernicus Climate Change Service · accessed 2026-08-26