Pictured above, a glimpse of the chilling arctic temperatures that occurred on February 16th, 2021 at 8:41:55 AM EST, taken from our Earth NetworksвЂ™ Sferic Maps. Significant weather, including rain, snow, and thunderstorms, form on the front as the cold air lifts the warmer, moister air upwards. Another way to think of a cold front is as the dividing line between an advancing cold air mass вЂ“ which is cold and dense вЂ“ and the warmer air mass it replaces. We call it a vortex because of the counterclockwise flow of air that traps the cold air close to the pole.ДЄ cold front is the boundary of an advancing mass of cold air rotating around the counterclockwise flow of a low pressure system. What Is A Polar Vortex? | Basic Polar Vortex FactsДЄ polar vortex is a low pressure area and pool of cold air that is present over the poles throughout the year. Polar Vortexes and Severe Weather Safety рџ‘‡ Keep Scrolling to BEGIN Reading рџ‘‡ In this polar vortex guide, we will cover the following topics: Throughout this guide we will cover Polar Vortex and Arctic Chill topics such as polar vortex basics, freezing temperatures, extreme cold, cold weather safety, and more. in an extreme chill.What Is A Polar Vortex? | The 2021 Arctic Chill Felt Throughout the CountryДЄlthough we are approaching Spring, this winter season was a doozy, especially for Texas. While these government meteorologists aren't getting paid for their work, they are vigilantly observing the freezing mass of polar air as it spreads southward, blanketing the U.S. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service will be watching as the polar vortex misbehaves. Though Filipelli notes that other atmospheric factors are at play too, he emphasizes that 'climate change just enhances the impact.' This means more relatively warm air that can potentially destabilize the cold, fenced-in Arctic.

Warm air melts bright white, reflective sea ice, which then allows the vast, dark open ocean to absorb more heat, and release more heat.

Because it's locked into a vicious warming cycle the region is warming over twice as fast as the rest of the planet. 'We donвЂ™t know yet exactly the underlying cause.'Д«ut Filippelli said it's likely that warming surface temperatures in the Arctic might contribute to the destabilization of the polar vortex. 'The details almost always unravel after the fact,' Martin said. Then, atmospheric scientists can look back at the 2019 polar vortex event and see the different factors that ultimately contributed to the breaching of the Arctic's formidable front of cold air. Martin is already looking two weeks ahead to the end of January, in which longer-term forecasts predict even colder temperatures.Д«ut eventually, as winter wanes and the sun rises over the Arctic, the polar vortex 'decays away into nothing,' said Martin. will likely be subjected to repeated blasts of cold air throughout the winter, said Filippelli. Now that the polar vortex has been unleashed, the U.S. This allows the polar vortex to simultaneously spread to different places, like the U.S. Sometimes, this warmer, invading air will split the polar vortex apart, like a 'band of warm air just cutting right through the puddle of cold air,' said Martin. 'It's always susceptible to having waves bump into it,' said Martin. Weather, or waves of air, are liable to push the polar vortex around. 'It's almost like a fence that holds it in,' Gabriel Filippelli, a professor of earth sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said in an interview. This frigid vortex of air can often stay strong and locked in the northern reaches throughout the winter, as the Arctic region's greater mass of cold air holds the polar vortex in place. That's why the polar vortex is also called the 'polar night jet,' explained Martin. In the absence of light and solar energy, the temperature plummets. It forms during the winter when the most northern regions on Earth go months with little sunlight. The polar vortex can be envisioned as a miles-high mass of rotating cold air.

So why does this mass of frigid air sometimes swirl so far down south and away from its home? The polar vortex typically lives in the high Arctic each winter. 'We're gonna freeze,' John Martin, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an interview. It's expected to slosh down and blanket a considerable part of the East Coast and Midwest with frigid polar air beginning this weekend, bringing sub zero temperatures to some Midwestern places. The polar vortex - a spinning mass of winter-chilled Arctic air - has become wobbly and weak.

Polar vortex