Bad weather

Jim walks towards the kitchen across NEEM main street.

There once were four radar stations across south Greenland. They formed part of the Distant Early Warning line, or DEW line during the cold war. Two of these stations were on the Greenland ice sheet, Dye-2 and Dye-3. In 1981 the T-shirt available in the store at Dye-3 read: “Dye-3, Does the wind blow there? – No, it sucks.” Somehow this phrase stuck in the authors mind, probably because it comes in handy on a day like this at NEEM.

Weather has been really bad, with strong winds and a lot of blowing snow. People could only open the kitchen door with great care to stop the wind from blowing it off the hinges. Some work was done inside the garage, but otherwise it made no sense to stay outside for extended periods. It appears that most of Greenland has been hit by this strong weather. Our FOM told us that the C5 galaxy bringing in joint NEEM and Summit cargo from the US had to attempt landing in Kangerlussuaq twice due to strong winds, and that all civilian traffic was cancelled. Needless to say, that the planned flight to NEEM today was cancelled too.

Three of our departing boys cooked us a lovely dinner: Nasi Goreng, an Indonesian meal.

What we have done today:

1. Waiting for better weather.
2. Keeping basal functions going in camp.
3. Making some preliminary work inside the garage.

Weather: All day overcast, -7 to -4 C, winds at 20-35 knots from S. Poor contrast and visibility up to 200 m. Snow and blowing snow, large snowdrifts forming.

FL, J.P. Steffensen