Life

This is What Antarctica's Worst Weather Looks Like

Right now, according to Weather.com, it’s around 20-40 degrees Fahrenheit in most states in the U.S. I live in Southern California, so that sounds pretty cold to me, so props to all of you for keeping it together because I probably would have frozen to death by now (or bought like five Snuggies off Ebay, not sure which scenario is worse). However, no matter where you live, it’s probably not as cold as, let’s say, Antarctica. The southernmost continent, at times, reaches temperatures as low as -100 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s not a typo. That extra zero is not, in fact, extra. This weather is called “Condition 1,” and it's the worst kind of weather. There's Condition 3, which is "vaguely hellish", Condition 2, which is "seriously, are you kidding me, is this even earth?", and then there's Condition 1, which is "I'm a flesh-and-blood human and clearly am not supposed to be here." It prohibits anyone from doing anything, including going to work or the grocery store (although I'm not sure "work" or "grocery stores" really exist in Antarctica, which is where this weather occurs) because your body will probably stop functioning and your bones will shatter after two minutes outside. Fun stuff!

To illustrate just how epically insane and cold “Condition 1” weather is, this video, filmed at McMurdo Station where a woman (who is weirdly jolly, considering her world is an ice cube) named Christine shows us what it’s like in the entryway of her building and what happens when she opens to the door to go outside. Just the entryway (which is still inside) is covered in snow and ice like Elsa’s house in Frozen . But the real fun begins when she opens the door to the outside which, as our guide aptly observes, “is like opening the door to another world.” I can barely handle winter in North America so I'm pretty sure I will certainly not be planning my vacation to Antarctica anytime soon, thankyouverymuch.