Another snow storm and more to come

The weather forecast that was just posted reads: "The region continues to be under the influence of a large low pressure system to the east-northeast. Intermittent gusty winds, snow and blowing snow will impact the station until the full brunt of the system moves in." We had a "Condition 1" situation last night, which was lifted just before Midrats. Condition 1 means you cannot leave the building you are in. It is more severe than Condition 2, which means you have to stay on station, or Condition 3, which means that all travel is permitted. Our Midrats meal was in another building, so we were glad to hear that Condition 1 was lifted just before midnight. Here in the picture are some people walking to Midrats, like us. It was still pretty gusty with a lot of blowing snow. It is looking fine now (see picture to the right), but there is more to come. Snow is plastered on the walls of the buildings and the windows. There is a large cloud on Minna Bluf in the distance, which is a bad sign. Luckily a helicopter was able to make a trip to the drillsite before the storm to get us some core, so we can work. Another perhaps comicle fact is that Ann Curry of the Today Show is now stuck here with us. Her Live broadcast was yesterday in front of the Chalet with the flags. Last night at Midrats she was in the lobby and was talking very loudly and came obviously out of one of the bars. She seems to have a good time here. We have not seen the show, so we can only hope that the science we do here was featured to some extent. She called off a trip to our drillsite...

So, yes what about the science? It is becoming increasingly more interesting. We are finding fossils every day now: yesterday a possible plant fossil, today a couple of shell beds with what look like large clam shells. There is still the intermittent presence of glaciers, so it looks like ice ages came and went, but there were some intervals of time with balmier climate conditions than today.