This had an awful effect on the surface, covering it with pools and making it very treacherous to walk upon.

Ten days of northerly winds rather damped our spirits, but a strong southerly wind on February 4, backing later, to south-east, carried us north again.
High temperatures and northerly winds soon succeeded this, so that our average rate of northerly drift was about a mile a day in February.
Throughout the month the diaries record alternately "a wet day, overcast and mild," and "bright and cold with light southerly winds." The wind was now the vital factor with us and the one topic of any real interest.
The beginning of March brought cold, damp, calm weather, with much wet snow and overcast skies.

The effect of the weather on our mental state was very marked.

All hands felt much more cheerful on a bright sunny day, and looked forward with much more hope to the future, than when it was dull and overcast.

This had a much greater effect than an increase in rations.
A south-easterly gale on the 13th lasting for five days sent us twenty miles north, and from now our good fortune, as far as the wind was concerned, never left us for any length of time.