If all went well Borge and Thorleif left Murmansk at 16.30LT. Finally! (pic=flag of Murmansk)

Weather Forecast North East West passage -28 July- day 15

Center of depression is now West of Novaya Zemlya with a building high pressure over the Murmansk sea area. This means that during the following 18 to 24 hours the wind becomes very weak. Tomorrow this high moves further Eastwards which result in slightly increasing wind along the track, from ESE’ly direction. If you would choose to go a little bit more northwards than winds will come more from SSE which is better for Easterly progression.
(All forecasted winds are average values).

Day 1: 28 July
Position: leaving Murmansk: 68.986/32.937 to 69.3/35.5
Weather: very clody, few showers tonight
Wind: 310-330°5-10kt after 15/18utc becoming 350-010°2-6kt, further veering to 080-100° by next morning

Day 2: 29 July
Position: from  69.3/35.5 to 69.5/39.0
Weather: sunny spells/clouds and a few occasional showers.
Wind: 100-120°4-8kt, after 06-09utc increasing to 100-120°10-15kt

Day 3: 30 July
Position: from  69.5/39.0 to 69.5/43.5
Weather: sunny spells/dry
Wind: 110-130° 13-18kt increasing to 15-20kt, later veering 130-150°.

The team of three runners, Jukka Viljanen-Kirsi Montonen-Greg Maud, plans to run a demanding 1,000 km route across Kalahari, covering approximately 50 km per day over 20 days. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that anyone will be running a full crossing of the Kalahari.

Their route will pass through some of the remoter areas of the Kalahari, including passing along the edge of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The adventure will see the team running mainly on remote tracks or small gravel roads, with several 100 km+ sections of loose sand. The remoteness of the route means that the team will be running through areas with substantial wildlife populations, with large predators and snakes being most concerning for the runners!

Running such a long distance over a short period of time will prove a major challenge – both mentally and physically. Each runner will consume between 5,000 and 7,000 Calories each day and cover the distance of almost 24 marathons in just 20 days.

 weather4expeditions.com will send this exceptional team daily temperature and wind forecasts.

Link to the Kalahari Run: http://www.kalahari1000.com/

Expected situation for tonight 27 July at 00utc. Weak winds to leave the fjord, but one at open sea High pressure center has further moved to the East which makes the wind stronger at open sea near the Murmansk fjord. Click to enlarge.

Weather Forecast North East West passage -26 July- day 13

General situation:
Tonight around midnight: leaving Murmansk the wind will still be rather weak but once at open sea, force increase. Probably the first part of this leg you planned to progress close to the coast. As the main wind direction is 120-140° maybe it would be better to head for 040-060° as later during the day the wind veers to 190-210°, than you can tac back to 140-160°. The further from the coast the stronger the wind.
(All forecasted winds are average values).

Day 1: 27 July (starting at midnight)
Position: leaving Murmansk: 68.986/32.937
Weather: very cloudy with possibly some rain/showers
Wind: between 00/06utc:120-140°4-8kt, between 06/18utc 120-140°12-17kt, between 18/06utc veering to 200-220°12-17kt

Day 2: 28 July
Position: from  68.8/37 to 69/41
Weather: very cloudy with some slight rain/shower
Wind: after 06/09utc veering to 300-320°10-15kt, no significant change.

Day 3: 29 July
Position: from  69/41 to 69.5/46
Weather: mainly vry cloudy but dry
Wind: 320-340°5-10kt, after 12/15utc veering to 050-070°5-10kt.

Weather Forecast North East West passage -21 July- day 8

General situation:
Over the next 12 to 18 hours the storms develops over the Scandinavian countries and when hitting the Barentz Sea it activates significantly. There is still a bit of doubt about the exact timing of this feature. At this stage it seems that the highest windspeeds will appear between 12 and 18Utc tomorrow Friday. They will be situated between the center of the depression and the coastline/ At this stage there are indications that  the average wind speed could go up to 50-55kt, so gusts up to 65, maybe 70kt.
So what i suggest is that tomorrow you wait in Murmansk until the worst part of the storm has evacuated to the East and than in the wake of that depression take advantage of the still strong but weakening WNW’ly wind to sail eastwards.
(All forecasted winds are average values).

Day 1: 22 July
Position: arriving in Murmansk: 68.986/32.937
Weather: overast with rain. Improving after 21/24utc with still some showery outbreaks
Wind: 090-110°6-10kt after 12/15utc veering to 190-210°8-13kt

Day 2: 23 July
Position: leaving Murmansk 68.986/32.937 to 69.100/40
Weather: very cloudy with rain and rain showers, in between sunny spells. Showery activity decreases after midnight.
Wind: at sea: around 06utc still 190-210°10-15kt but than rapidly increasing to become 250-270°25-35kt around 12utc and between 12-18utc 300-320°45-55kt. After 21/24utc becoming 290-310°25-30kt.

Day 3: 24 July
Position: from 69.100/40.000 to 70.000/50.000
Weather: sunny spells alternating cloudy periods, remaining dry.
Wind: 280-300°20-26kt, only slightly decreasing.

Storm situation for early Friday morning, in between the ports of Kirkenes and Murmansk.

Weather Forecast North East West passage -21 July- day 8
General situation:
In the developing high pressure the wind will further drop away today. Than over the Scandinavian continent a belt of low pressure develops of which a first center comes across tonight/tomorrow. But the main stormdepression is expected for Thursday night early Friday morning. This feature is expected to generate heavy winds over the Southern parts of the Barentz Sea. At this stage they still calculate winds exceeding 40-50kt average, which is 9-10 on scale of Beaufort. The combination of the weak wind today and the Easterly wind tomorrow and the storm on Thursday night could you make you take in consideration to wait until Friday to leave the port of Kirkenes. This would give you the advantage of a nice moderate decreasing WNW’ly wind that is favourable to sail from K to Murmansk.
All forecasted winds are average values.

Day 1: 21 July
Position: around Kirkenes: 69.730/30.015
Weather: sunny spells with showery outbreaks. After 15/18utc becoming overcast followed by moderate rainfall after 00utc.
Wind: further decreasing becoming less than 5kt from variable directions. After 18/21utc turning to 060-080°5-10kt. After 00utc 070-090°10-15kt.

Day 2: 22 July
Position: from 69.730/30.015  to 68.986/32.937
Weather: very cloudy to overcast with moderate to temporarily heavy rainfall. Following night storm conditions develop.
Wind: 060-080°12-17kt, after 12/15utc 080-100°20-25kt. After 21/00utc veering to 180-200° and increasing to 25-30kt.

Day 3: 23 July
Position: around Murmansk 68.986/32.937
Weather: very cloudy with rain becoming rainshowers and during the late afternoon/evening further clearing and becoming dry.
Wind: early morning: at sea: 290-310°30-35kt temporarily increasing up to 40-45kt. After 12/15utc generally decreasing.

This really nice satellite shot from polar orbiting noaa19, shows a classic frontal depression covering the greatest parts of Greenland. The center of the depression is situated really close to the Neem Site so the weather for the ice core drillers will be extremely poor: overcast, snow, blowing snow and warm! Linked to this depression you can see a waving coldfront (to the South of the site). A wave on the coldfront usually means that the system will slow down in its Eastern progression. So could be a while that the weather remains poor over Neem. (c) Sat Image from Weather Office Canada.

General
The warm impulse i mentioned yesterday has developed to a classic frontal depression that lays overhead the Neem site, hence Northern Greenland. Products suggest that this system will linger there for a while as it is really reluctant to evacuate.

21/07/10 - day 1
- Wind: SW 18-23kt, after 18/21utc becoming 12-17kt (average).
- Weather: multilayered and solidly overcast with snow and blowing snow. Poor conditions. No significant change. Blowing snow weakens overnight.
- Temperature: Min06utc=-7°C dayMax(18utc)=-4°C

22/07/10 - day 2
- Wind: S to SSW 10-15kt, after 18/21utc becoming 8-13kt.
- Weather: still solidly overcast with periods of snow. Snow fall becomes a little weaker but still no significant improvement.
- Temperature: (6utc)=-7°C (18utc)=-3°C.

23/07/10 - day 3
- wind: 18/21utc becoming S 4-8kt.
- Weather: similar to previous day: very cloudy to overcast with periods of snow or snow showers.
- Temperature: (6utc)=-8°C (18utc)=-3°C

Weather Forecast North East West passage -20 July- day 7
General situation: at this moment a low pressure center is positioned off the West coast of Nova Zembla and tracks further East. A weak high pressure develops over the Southern parts of the Barents Sea.
The most important feature for the next few days will be the deepening depression, coming in from Northern Finland, hitting the Barentz Sea on Thursday night, tracking towards the South of Nove Zembla on Friday. At this stage the worst part of this storm is expected on Friday afternoon with possibly 50kt average winds.

Day 1: 20 July
Position: around Kirkenes: 69.730/30.015
Weather: alternating sunny spells with cloudy periods with rain showers
Wind: from Westerly dirctions 260-280° 5-10kt (3-5ms), no significant change. After 21utc becoming weak from variable directions.

Day 2: 21 July
Position: from 69.730/30.015  to 68.986/32.937
Weather: variable cloudiness with showery outbreaks. After 15/18utc increasing and thickening cloudiness followed by rain.
Wind: from variable directions less than 5kt, after 9/12utc turning to the NE: first 020-040°4-8kt (2-4ms) later 050-070°8-13kt (4-6ms)

Day 3: 22 July
Position: around Murmansk 68.986/32.937
Weather: overcast with rain or rain showers
Wind: East 070-090° 8-13kt becoming 12-16kt (6-8ms). Later significant difference between conditions overland and over sea. Over land SSW 10-15kt (5-8ms), over sea 20-25kt (10-13ms). The following night further increasing over sea up to 30-40kt (15-20ms), later during the day (23/07) even up to 40-50kt (20-25ms).

Click on the image to get amazing details!

The Kuril Island chain is built from a line of volcanoes, an island arc, that extends from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula to northern Japan. Island arcs form along an active boundary between two tectonic plates, with one being driven beneath the other (subduction). Magma generated by subduction feeds volcanoes—and eventually volcanic islands—over the subduction boundary.
Paramushir Island in the northern Kurils is an example of a large island built by several volcanoes over geologic time. This astronaut photograph shows the southern end of Paramushir Island after a snowfall. The western slopes of the mountains are brightly illuminated, while the eastern slopes are in shadow.
Four major volcanic centers create this part of the island. Fuss Peak (image center left) is an isolated stratovolcano connected to the main island via an isthmus. Fuss Peak last erupted in 1854.
The southern tip of the island is occupied by the Karpinsky Group of three volcanic centers. A minor eruption of ash following an earthquake occurred on this part of the island in 1952.
The Lomonosov Group to the northeast (image center) includes four cinder cones and a lava dome that produced several lava flows in the past, but there have been no eruptions from the Lomonosov Group in recorded history.
The most recent volcanic activity on Paramushir Island occurred in 2008 at the Chikurachki cone located along the northern coastline of the island at image top center. The summit of this volcano [1,816 meters (5,958 feet) above sea level] is the highest on Paramushir Island.
Much of the Sea of Okhotsk visible in the image is covered with low clouds that often form around the islands in the Kuril chain. The clouds are generated by moisture-laden air passing over the cool sea/ocean water, and they typically wrap around the volcanic islands.
(c) text and image by the NASA Earth Observatory
General
Latest satellite image shows a deep depression just off the NW coast of Greenland. This system pushes a lot of warm air, hence a lot f moisture towards the location of Neem. At this stage it lloks like the sun is on a holiday for a while!

14/07/10 - day 1
- Wind: SSW 15-20kt, after 21utcdecreasing only a little: 14-18kt.
- Weather: overcast with periods of continuous snow fall. Blowing snow as well. Overall poor conditions for the rest of the day.
- Temperature: Min06utc=-XX°C dayMax(18utc)=-3°C

15/07/10 - day 2
- Wind: SSW 14-18kt after 21/24utc gradually becoming SSW 10-15kt
- Weather: similar conditions as previous day: overcast with snow/blowing/drifting snow, slightly improving after 18/21utc.
- Temperature: (6utc)=-6°C (18utc)=-6°C.
 
16/07/10 - day 3
- Wind: SW 8-12kt, no significant change.
- Weather: still a lot of cloud but except from the occasional shower it should remain dry. Maybe a few weak sunny (halo) sunny spells develop.
- Temperature: (6utc)=-8°C (18utc)=-6°C

(c) satellite Canada Weather Office

General
This mornings satellite image shows pretty clear conditions for the largest parts of Greenland, except for the Northwest. Some quite extensive, patchy cloud covers that region of Greenland but is slowly moving in a NW’ly way, so possibly some temporary improvement can be expected.

13/07/10 - day 1
- Wind: S 8-12kt, backing a little to SSE to SE.
- Weather: very cloudy with low stratus but during the day those clouds should break and result in some sunny spells. however quite significant amounts of medium and high level cloud will remain.
- Temperature: Min06utc=-14°C dayMax(18utc)=-6°C

14/07/10 - day 2
- Wind: S 12-17kt becoming SSW 15-20kt
- Weather: thickening cloud at nearly all levels, increasing risk for snow or snow showers. Temporarily drifting or blowing snow.
- Temperature: (6utc)=-10°C (18utc)=-4°C.
 
15/07/10 - day 3
- Wind: SSW 13-18kt, gradually becoming 8-13kt
- Weather: periods with rather thick low clouds and snow or snow showers in between the occasional short sunny spell. Slightly improving after 18/21utc.
- Temperature: (6utc)=-8°C (18utc)=-6°C