Polar vortex driving record freeze

[micraphone]

Source: Stuff.co.nz

A persistent weather pattern driving bitterly cold air south out of the Arctic will cause temperatures from Minnesota to Kentucky to plummet, turning this winter into one of the coldest on record in some areas.

In cities where temperatures reached 4-10 degrees Celsius at the weekend, people will wake up Monday (local time) to temperatures ranging from -10C to -20C. And with the wind chill, cities throughout the Midwest will feel far colder than the -20C that Hudson said was expected in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost US city.

The weather service said city after city would face wind chills well below -20C: -41.5C in Minneapolis, -25.5C in Kansas City, -23 .5C in St. Louis, and -19.5C in Louisville.

In the Chicago area, residents were bracing for a historic deep freeze. Monday's high was expected to be -20C and drop as low as -27C downtown, with wind chills as low as -40C).

Read more: http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/9655455/Polar-vortex-driving-record-freeze

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Another hit to climate change deniers.

[JDPriestly]

1. And in LA we saw the most rain we have seen in a while: a few drops on our car windshield.

But again a beautiful sunny day. We are lucky not to be in the cold, but it would be nice to have some rain. Our trees are suffering.

[PasadenaTrudy]

16. I was out

walking when it started to sprinkle. At first I thought a bird shat on my head! Not used to rain anymore.

[tofuandbeer]

2. Sorry to hear for all those suffering the cold...

we need some of that vortex down here in Southern California.

[byronius]

3. General suckiness all around.

Bleah. Damn it.

Let's sacrifice someone, see if the sky fairies approve. I got a list.

[LovingA2andMI]

4. I'm Polar Vortex out in Michigan

And that Groundhog better predict six more weeks of Winter within the next week or else....

[dipsydoodle]

5. Its the jet stream doing the driving

Cold air from the polar vortex is the passenger.

[BelgianMadCow]

7. Yep, and apparently scientists are trying to understand the extra waviness of it

that has been observed in recent years, but they haven't constructed a good explanation yet.
That's per Thom Hartmann, by the way (the scientists bit - the waviness is well-documented).

[dipsydoodle]

8. It was the extra waviness

which caused the floods in Pakistan 2010 and the heatwave in Russia the same year. Also caused the worst winter since 1963 in the UK whereas this year we've got the 7th warmest on record.

Shit happens.

[BelgianMadCow]

10. and it's all related to the strength of the polar high pressure system

which was behind the weird turn hurricane Sandy took ("a tropospheric ridge of unusual high pressure&quot .

[dipsydoodle]

11. 84 have hit NY State since the 1700's

so there I'm guess there's more to it than that.

[BelgianMadCow]

14. I understand, and no thing has one cause only, but it wasn't just that Sandy hit - it's the turn

the storm made. Like I said, linked to unusal northern tropospheric pressure.

But interpreting weather events in terms of climate change is a weird odds game, so what do I know

[NutmegYankee]

12. I think it's now undertood that the warming arctic is doing it.

The temperature differential between equator and pole drives the jet stream, but with arctic warming that forcing has gotten weak. So now the jet stream meanders much like a gently flowing river.

[BelgianMadCow]

13. That was my understanding as well

There was a bit of a question of "where is the heat going" in the climate sciences. And then we found part of the answer is the deep sea, and the arctic region especially. Which then becomes warmer, evaporates more and creates a stronger high pressure system. The link between temp diff, the jet stream and its meandering I hadn't seen. Brilliant description, "meandering".

[pansypoo53219]

6. went from 29 in chicago to 3 in a few hours.

[jakeXT]

9. I just saw a woman complain that it was impossible to drive with her knees and do her make-up

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/24552394/road-closures-interstate-94-hwys-10-and-210-impassable

[davidthegnome]

15. Up here in Northern Maine...

We're used to freezing temperatures in the winter, we're also used to lots of snow. This year though, and the last... I can't remember a colder winter up here - and I've lived in Maine almost my whole life. The last several years we've had much less snow than is usual for us, which is driving down our already struggling economy even further - because we rely heavily on snow mobilers. We're getting more snow now, towards the end of January... but the road conditions, the ice, the freezing cold weather and wind... no one wants to go anywhere or do anything.

I had a co-worker tell me last night that she actually broke down and cried - there were several inches of snow on her car, it was more than ten below with freezing, strong gusts of wind, and she dropped something important in the snow and had to search for it.

The cost of heating fuel keeps going up, the Governor has cut the budget for snow removal - and heating assistance is really, really hard to get.

I worry for those who can't afford to heat their homes up here this winter - and I have no idea how the heck they're getting by. Lots of clothes and blankets, maybe, but on some nights, it's so cold it hurts to breath.

It's enough to make me cry, too.

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. This up and down weather is just wearing me out.

Yesterday it was 60 here in KC. Then about 6 last night the wind started. We had probably a 50 mph wind out of the north. Temps dropped like a stone. Today it's 10.

It's so hard to adjust to those extremes. I know that it affects how I feel and also how I think. It's kind of like my brain freezes up on me.

[former9thward]

18. There is a reason that every year the country's population center shifts to the south and west.

Young people are no longer putting up with living in lousy weather their whole lives. They are moving out of the old Northeast and Midwest.

[adirondacker]

19. Pretty well defined on the GOES image from NOAA...

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/ECIR3.html