Surface temperature and wind chronologies of varying length and 10 m snow temperatures have been used to produce a synthesis of airflow into Antarctica. This synthesis shows relatively warm air over Ellsworth Land, which appears to enter the South Polar Plateau through a slightly lower-lying trough between the summit of the Transantarctic Mountains and the Polar Plateau. Comparison of recent automatic weather station (AWS) records from Mount Howe (88.5 ¿S, 150 ¿W) with four AWS surrounding South Pole at 89 ¿S show that this upslope inflow is a frequent and persistent phenomenon.