Riley McMurdo — McMurdo Station Guide | riley-mcmurdo.net
Population, buildings, temperature range and meal counts as a measured profile.
McMurdo Station's scale is best read through its population swing. In a peak summer week it can reach 1,100 people; in winter it falls to about 200. About 2,300 people pass through the station each year, which explains why most residents are temporary.
The built footprint is approximately 146 buildings, supported by a harbour, two airfields and helicopter pads. These structures serve laboratories, dormitories, warehouses and the galley, and they are the physical expression of the station's logistics role.
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Temperature defines the operating envelope: an annual mean of -18°C (-0.4°F), recorded lows of -50°C (-58°F) and highs of +8°C (46.4°F). Snow accumulation can reach 1.5 metres per year, yet the station is typically snow-free in summer.
The galley serves 147,956 meals annually, a figure that tracks the annual pass-through of about 2,300 people. Read together, these numbers describe a station sized by throughput and continuity rather than by permanent population.
Mount Erebus, about 25 miles away, and McMurdo Sound frame the site on Hut Point Peninsula, Ross Island, at 77°50.89' S, 166°40.11' E.
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