QUESTION: 
Andrea asks:  Is it too cold to play in the snow, and build snowmen?
Do you ever have snowball fights?
        
        Andrea, 4th grader
        Peter Boscow Elementary School
        Hillsboro, Oregorn


ANSWER from Mary Lenox, Antartic Support Associates, Palmer Station
            Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 19:23:31 -0500

Hi, Andrea. 

It is not very often that it is too cold to play in the snow here at 
Palmer Station.  It is a bit harder to build snow people sometimes 
though, because the snow is often too dry and won't stick together.  
It is far warmer here than at the other two United States' stations, 
McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.  In fact, during the 
summer, from roughly November to February or March, we don't usually 
have any snow.  

There are lots of us that like to have snowball fights.  Most often 
we throw snowballs at the folks who are departing on the Polar Duke, 
the ship that transports us and our supplies to and from Chile.  They 
always throw snowballs back at us, too.

I hope you're having lots of fun this winter.

Cheers,
Mary Lenox