On the Polar Vortex: What is hype, what isn’t, and how it may affect us
The Polar Vortex is coming, and when it arrives it’s going to freeze you, your house, and everything around you – taking you back to the Arctic from where it came. Kidding. Ah, it has been a while since we’ve had to really dive into this. As a meteorologist, these are exciting times. The atmosphere is getting ready to put on a bit of a show, and the community is starting to pick up on it. You may recall the last time the term Polar Vortex went “viral”, back in 2014. It was a media frenzy – the polar vortex was coming to invade the United States.
You may also recall the reality of it – it was cold, and in some places it was snowy – and anomalously so. The truth is that the polar vortex is not unheard of, unthinkable, or unfathomed. It is not new, and it is not appearing for the first time since 2014. It is, however, a very neat atmospheric feature, and it deserves our full attention. It affects the weather greatly, and its positioning and intensity throughout the Winter months is a critical component of many forecasts.