The occurrence of coreless winters in the South Shetland Islands region is related to increase in the intensity of cyclonic circulation and to the presence of massive and rapid advection of warm air northerly and westerly. Coreless winter developments depend on large-scale oceanic processes – the presence of positive anomalies in sea surface temperature (SST) in the Bellingshausen Sea over the range 080°–092°W and the retreat of sea ice extent southwards. When negative anomalies of SST in the same region are observed and the sea ice extent advances northwards, a winter with clearly marked cold core is experienced at the Arctowski Station on the South Shetlands.