TEMPERATURES 
461 
same region. The corresponding temperature for a place 
in the same latitude in the Arctic is 2*5° F., thus the 
difference is not very great. The lowest temperature 
recorded at Cape Evans was - 50° F., which is not par- 
ticularly low, for many well inhabited towns in Alaska 
and Siberia experience lower temperatures every winter. 
The real severity of the Antarctic climate is not shown 
in its low minimum temperatures, but in its low maximum 
temperatures. The July temperature at the North Pole 
has been calculated to be 30° F., the mean temperature 
at Cape Evans during December 191 1 and January 1912 
was 21° F. Thus the summer temperature at our base 
station over 900 miles from the South Pole was 9^ F. 
below the summer temperature at the North Pole itself. 
It is interesting to compare the mean temperature through- 
out the months of the year at Cape Evans with that of 
a station in the corresponding latitude in the northern 
hemisphere. The comparison is made in Table I on 
the next page. 
Thus during the three summer months our tem- 
perature was more than 15° F. below what would have 
been experienced at a similar latitude in the Arctic. The 
low temperature during the summer in the Antarctic 
is one of the outstanding features of its climate and has 
not yet received a really satisfactory explanation. 
As stated above, the lowest temperature experienced 
at Cape Evans was - 50'' F., but that was by no means 
the lowest met with by members of the Expedition. In 
July 191 1 Wilson, Bowers, and Cherry-Garrard made a 
sledge journey on to the Barrier, and they experienced 
