MARCH, 1911 continued. 



March 5th, 1911. 



The meteorological notes were omitted to-day with the exception of the log, as we were away 

 on the summit of Cape Adare, and I was doing geology, but the day has been a quiet 

 one with nothing seen particularly worthy of note. 



March 6th, 1911. 



1.30p.m. This morning we fixed up the Kew Standard Barometer and searched the old hut 

 until we found a box containing four Mercury Dry Bulb Thermometers and three Spirit 

 Thermometers, one of them a refill for the sling thermometer and the other two minimum 

 Spirit Thermometers for sledging. 



At 8 a.m. the sky was fairly clear, but a good deal of Cirrus without any definite 

 arrangement was present near the Zenith. Low down on the Northern horizon was a dense 

 cloud of Nimbus which, however, became dispersed between then and 10 a.m. when there 

 were two well-marked series of clouds one of Cirrus drawn out with its long axis N. and S., 

 and the other of Cirro-cumulus trending E. and W. A few Alto-stratus clouds on the 

 Northern horizon might have belonged to either or neither of these series. 



N.B. I have, until now, been reading the weather by dividing the sky into nine 

 tenths, for instance, C9, B9 or C6B3, and leaving out the part near the horizon. But in 

 future, according to the Observers' handbook, I shall use the notation ClO, BlO and 

 C6B4. 



10 p.m. A clear E.S.E. wind has been blowing all day. Its force has varied from 1 to 6. 

 To-night, just before the 10 o'clock observation, Campbell called us out to see the first 

 Aurora any of us had seen here. The night is yet too light for it to show up very well 

 at this hour, but searchlight beams radiating from the N.E. were distinct, and one curtain 

 stretching from the N.E. to N.W. and reaching an altitude of 45. The colour was, in 

 my opinion, a yellowish-green, and I am supported by a small majority, but Abbott and 

 Levick are inclined to call it pearl-grey. I think that had the night been sufficiently dark 

 it would have been a very bright curtain, but none of us were sufficiently enthusiastic to 

 stay up to watch developments. 



March 1th, 1911. 



8 a.m. Cumulus moving from the N.E. At 8 a.m. Cape Adare was shrouded in low cloud 

 from the summit to within a 1,000 feet of sea-level. This cloud moved from the E. 

 Half-an-hour ago the glaciers were clear, but they are now blotted out by heavy snow. 



10.30 a.m. At 9 o'clock this morning six separate storms with falling snow were to be seen. 

 The largest was the one which covered Cape Adare with dense snow-cloud, then three 

 squalls were moving slowly westward along the horizon between N.E. and N.W., and the 

 mountains N. of Mt. Minto were obscured for about 20 miles by another flurry ; finally, 

 the snowstorm near the glaciers still continued, though not so strong as at the last obser- 

 vation. 



Between 9 a.m. and 9.15 a.m. the Cape Adare squall moved Westward, and at 9.5 the 

 first snow fell near the hut. Since then about of an inch of snow has fallen. Most of it 

 fell as nearly circular granules ranging principally from those J-inch in diameter (these 

 were comparatively few in number), through those -^ inch in diameter, and all sizes down 

 to that of a pin's point. A few crystals of, I think, type EC were falling, but their scarceness 

 is illustrated by the fact that when I had fetched the photographs to compare, I waited 

 for 5 minutes without catching one, and finally had to trust to my memory. 



10.30 a.m. Snow ceased and blue sky 3 appeared. (B.3C.7). 



11.30a.m. At 11 o'clock the snowstorm over the glaciers again became much heavier, and 

 seemed to spread along the mountains to the N.W. and along Cape Adare to the N.E. 

 About 11.15 Cape Adare became altogether obscured, and 5 minutes later heavy snow 

 flying before an E.S.E. breeze of force 2 to 3 struck the camp and reduced our horizon 

 to a matter of 100 yards. The snow fell in large flakes, each composed of several inter- 

 locked crystals of types approaching nearly to Fl. 4 and 5, Fll 10. 



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