Happy New Year!!!
2025 was not at all what I was expecting it to be. At this time last year, I was still waiting on my start date at NAVO, taking one final trip beforehand (Train across the country, up the coast, and then to Alaska). I figured my year would be filled with a few months out to sea, figuring out how to navigate PTO, and a sense of stability etc. When the hiring freeze happened, it was quite a punch in the gut….I didn’t have a Plan B at all. I am beyond grateful to the folks that helped steer me in a direction to figure out what the next step was going to be. This year I was a substitute teacher, contracting back at NAVO for 3M for six weeks, and on retainer as a contractor for two companies- one as a hydrographer and the other as a protective species observer. But, the big surprise was choosing to re-apply to go back down to Antarctica. I went through the whole PQ process back in late 2021 to winter over at the South Pole in 2022 when I thought my Naval career was coming to an end. Gratefully, I finished my career and I thought with my NAVO job that Antarctica was just a pipe dream that was never going to happen. After my government job was officially cancelled, I just happen to take a glance at the bookmarked website and saw that hiring was open for the summer season at Antarctica and decided on a whim to apply. Within a day I had a call from HR and in two days I had a formal interview with the same gentleman I interviewed with a few years back. He was incredible excited that I was back to try again. I went through the PQ process fairly quickly and then it just was a waiting game….a bit of a gamble. Since I put all my eggs in one basket that I was going to go and turning down other employments on this premise. Grateful, I was reached out to again about this opportunity as WAIS Divide. I thought and I really wanted the South Pole, but that one ended up having its returners from last season come back. So, this was my way to get down here and I jumped on it!
And here I am!!! At the bottom of the world! I’ve been to all seven continents before I turn 40 in 2026, I’m back doing meteorology which has always been my passion, and I’m on this incredible adventure that I’m so happy to share with you all. So thank you! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my life in 2025 and if you’re just stumbling on this blog and don’t know who I am personally, welcome! I hope this provides some information and insight into one of the “coolest” (pun intended) jobs ever. No clue what 2026 will bring, but I’m excited for the journey!
Now Onto This Week’s Recap….
Monday morning 1:15AM started out with some lovely whiteout conditions…I can usually have a general gauge of what the weather is before I leave my tent. There’s a small flag marking my tent site and based on how loud it’s flapping, I can determine the wind, if it’s colder than usual or my solar panel isn’t producing wattage, it’s cloudy, and if there’s snow that got in between the tent and the fly, I know there was/is blowing snow. It’s really interesting how the light, shadows, visibility can change the overall landscape. One minute you can determine ground definition and then next you fall down because you couldn’t see that snow drift right in front out you. With it’s being so flat and white (but in fact we are at about 6000′ elevation) it can become disorientating looking out.
Tuesday ended up being a beautiful day, but we had no flights. So it was a good opportunity to take out the snowmobiles to check out our visibility markers. We have daytime markers at 1, 3, and 3 miles out in three different grid directions. It was a lot of fun driving miles away from camp on snowmobiles and had me thinking that it’s possible of some of the areas we were walking around that we were the only humans EVER to step foot here. Pretty neat! Anyways, we were able to find all but one and some were in better conditions than others, so we will be working to get them re-established next time we have a nice day with no flights.
Overnight, we were expecting up to 35-40KT of wind. However, since we are still on the flight schedule, I still had to come in overnight for observations. The wind and blowing snow continued through out the day, so once the flights were cancelled, it became more of an indoor admin kind of day.
Below is visibility at about 1/2 mi at some points we got down to under 200 meters.
Took a short nap once I got off shift (video from the inside of my tent). I’m truly impressed with the structure of these tents. While there is a bit of movement and noise, no wind blows through there, it’s incredibly study, and stay fairly warm regardless of what’s going on outside.
Afterwards, we got together and watched Whiteout, which I have never seen before. Coming out in 2009, Kate Beckinsale is the US Marshall down in Antarctica to investigate murders that are occurring at the South Pole station three days before the start of winterover. It was terribly delightful and so inconsistent, but it was a fun watch.
Our time off for the New Years holiday isn’t until Jan 2nd/3rd, so with flights on Jan 1, it was off to early bedtime for the 1:15AM wake up call, so while I didn’t get to “officially” see the welcoming of the New Year, I will celebrate when the US does later today.
Our cook truly outdid himself for our New Year’s feast! For lunch, we had a smattering of the traditional “good luck” foods and for dinner we had steak and lobster!
Friday and Saturday were our “days” off for the New Year. However, it’s never really fully a day off. We still have a few mandatory weather observation, always making water, and this weekend I’m also on my weekly kitchen cleaning duties. But, overall it’s pretty chill and I’m grateful I got to wake up at a more normal time.
On Friday, we had a camp “The Thing” viewing party, starting with the 1982 version and then the “prequel” one from 2011. I’ve never seen the newer one and I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever seen the original, but it’s an Antarctic staple for all USAP viewing.
As 2025 closed out, since I’ve been at WAIS Divide, I did 86 weather observations and supported 9 completed flights (and another dozen more flights that were ultimately cancelled). Coming up into Janudary, we have some science coming out at the end of the month and they will be supported by Twin Otter aircraft from KBA, in addition to the LC-130’s that are bringing us fuel and cargo, plus taking away retro cargo.
I hope everyone had a lovely New Years and have a great first week of 2026. See you next week!