In trade for the sundogs that we’ve had over the past several days, the wind has kicked up snow something fierce. Our skies vacillate between a partial blue and completely obscured. The horizon, to say nothing for the station a mere hundred yards from our Cargo office, fades in and out of view. With the visibility and ceiling height in flux, the incoming LC-130 flights from McMurdo are thrown into chaos.

As I type this, I am waiting for an extraordinarily late flight to arrive. With luck (assuming no weather delays due to visibility) the plane will be on the ground at 4:50 AM. We should be finished with our cargo offload and upload, shutting down equipment, checking cargo in, and delivery by 6 or 6:30 in the morning. On a normal day, we would have finished our ten hours of work by 1 AM.

We’re tired, a bit grumpy, and somewhat slow. But out the window? Two complete circle rainbows surrounding the sun as it traverses across the sky.