The history of perennially ice covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MCM), Antarctica have been extensively studied under the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. The lakes are formed in endorheic basins enclosed by topographic relief or glaciers. Over the past century, the lakes have experienced an overall trend of continuous lake level rise despite decrease in solar radiation (Doran et al, 2002). Variability/increase of lake levels is caused by the sole water source; melt from nearby glaciers during austral summer months. During the last glacial maximum lake levels were much higher than today, providing abundant organic matter to present-day soils. The reason for high lake levels at a time when it was much colder than present has been a conundrum. Here, we analyze the impact of anomalous warm summer winds (katabatic winds) on the present-day climate and their potential role in lake history The preliminary analyses indicate that ancient lakes in Antarctica, such as glacial Lake Washburn, could have formed because of an increase in the frequency of these summer winds in conjunction with more low altitude ice being available at the time.