Best Time To Travel To: Antarctica

Antarctica is a huge area, twice the size of the USA! It is also the region with the largest perma-ice area in the world and the coldest region on Earth. The coldest temperature measured there came from the Vostok station, where a value of -89.2°C was recorded in 1983. Vostok is commonly considered the coldest pole on Earth.

Antarctica has snow-covered glaciers in the interior, which extend towards the coast. This in turn is usually surrounded by pack or drift ice. Basically, when it's summer in Europe, it's winter there. Summer in Antarctica is winter in ours, around December 21 the sun has reached its highest level. Then it can be sunny the whole day.

The Antarctica is not a classic vacation region, which will probably remain so for reasons of protection. Antarctica has been opened for tourism, but it is a controlled and guided tourism. Nevertheless, it could be interesting for one or the other, how it behaves climatically in Antarctica.

Basically the weather is changeable and regionally the temperatures vary quite strongly. Antarctica does not have less light or sun than other regions. However, the sun shines in an extremely flat angle and therefore gives off less radiation. The incoming radiation is also relatively quickly radiated back into the atmosphere by clouds, snow and ice. Basically, Antarctica can be described as a quite dry region. On an annual average, there is about 30 liters of precipitation per square meter. The precipitation practically always comes down in crystalline form - at least that is how it is perceived. There are also regional differences in the tendency to precipitation. Inland is drier than the coastline and the coastline is drier than the offshore islands.

In the inland, one must generally expect more extreme and harsher conditions than elsewhere. Basically, the climatic conditions here always depend on the altitude you are at. Very critical can be the winds, which can make the cold almost painful. In some places you also have to expect high wind speeds, some regions are very prone to storms. But on the other hand, the wind force is often assumed to be higher than it actually is. Wostock is even described as relatively windless, basically winds of more than 5m/sec are rarely measured on an annual average.

The coldest region of Antarctica is the polar plateau. Here one reaches just -40°C on average in summer, in winter it goes down to -60°C on average. Much milder are the coastal regions. In summer, temperatures here are always above freezing, and in winter they rarely fall below -30°C. On the Antarctic Peninsula, too, the thermometer sometimes rises above freezing point in summer.

The summer in Antarctica

There is a summer in Antarctica. In this phase, at least in the coastal area, it is quite pleasant and sunny. Here the temperatures climb then also over the freezing point. When there is no wind, the weather seems pleasant to warm. Summer is - one should keep in mind - when it is winter for example in Europe. The sun reaches its highest point towards the end of December and shines 24 hours a day under cloudless skies. Due to the low angle of radiation, however, it gives off less heat than we are used to. Therefore, in summer it remains cold in many regions of Antarctica, but on the coast it can then go well above 0°C up to 9°C.

The best time to travel to Antarctica

Due to the factors mentioned above, the best time to travel to Antarctica can be clearly defined - it is the summer or the period between December and February. Then it is relatively mild and dry at the coastal areas. The main season for Antarctica is the phase from November to February.

As a rule of thumb for Antarctica, it is coldest around July/August and warmest around December/January.

Climatetable Stonington Island on Graham Land