Answering a Question about a Cold Journey

In referring to the proposed journey of the Lehi Colony on the ship Nephi built along the Southern Ocean, where the currents flow from Arabia to the Western Hemisphere, as has been written about and stated many times in these posts, a respondent identifying himself/herself as only BOMG to a previous post wrote:

"That would have been a cold journey down near the South Pole, especially coming from Jerusalem!"

Actually, they were coming from eight years in the desert, some of which is the hottest and most hostile desert in the eastern hemisphere, the difference would be even greater than that of Jerusalem, which is a Mediterranean Climate.

This question is answered more thoroughly in the author's book: Lehi Never Saw Mesoamerica, but in brief, we will answer it here again.

Lehi's Course from Arabia to the Western Hemisphere through the Southern Ocean and along the West Wind Drift current

The currents that move from the southern Arabian coast in the area of present day Oman, flow southward six months of the year, leaving the Arabian coast and moving southward down past Madagascar and then turning or curving toward the east and flowing into the Southern Ocean's West Win Drift, a circumpolar route driven by the Prevailing Westerlies winds that move around the entire globe from west to east.

This current is many miles wide as it flows just north of the Antarctic Current, moving south of Australia, and south of New Zealand, and into the pacific Ocean on the southern boundary.

Lehi's Course through the West Wind Drift, driven by the Prevailing Westerlies winds, would have been along the northern rim or edge of the currents where the warm southern Pacific waters affect the currents

The Southern Ocean (also known as the Great Southern Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean, and the South Polar Ocean) comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally found from about 40ºs (Roaring Forties) to about 60º (Screaming Sixties) south latitudes. South of this current, some still call the waters the Antarctic Ocean. It is usually regarded as the fourth largest of the five principal oceanic divisions. This ocean zone is where cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with arm southern flowing waters of the south Pacific. The southern side or rim of this Southern Ocean current is mostly cold water as the Antarctic Current flows past. However, the northern side or rim of the Southern Ocean current is warm, with water from the tropic south Pacific mingles with the current as both flow eastward from the Coriolis effect.

The Southern Ocean differs from the other oceans in the world because its largest boundary, the northern boundary, does not abut a landmass, but merges into the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. Cyclonic storms travel eastward around the continent and frequently become intense because of the temperature contrast between ice and open ocean. The ocean-area from about latitude 40º south of the Antarctic Circle as the strongest average winds found anywhere on Earth. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current moves perpetually eastward--chasing and joining itself, and at 13,000 miles in length--it comprises the world's longest ocean current, transporting 130 million cubic meters of water per second--100 times the flow of all the world's rivers.

The water temperature of the Pacific Ocean at the equator is about 88º F. and drops as it moves southward to about 68º F. at 40º South Latitude, where it mixes into the Southern Ocean. Thus, as the Lehi Colony sailed eastward on the West Wind Drift with the Prevailing Westerlies driving them toward the Land of Promise  ("driven forth before the wind"), they would have been in the northern side or rim of this circumpolar current where the warmer water flowed and the temperature was far more tolerable than further south.