What is a polar vortex, the weather event causing winter storms in the United States? | Weather news

The United States has been facing severe winter storms, which are likely to affect more than 60 million people in the east of the country. The ongoing cold snap, which could drop the mercury as low as -50°C (-60°F), is caused by the expansion of the polar vortex, an area of ​​extremely cold air rotating around the Arctic to the south.

Subzero temperatures can extend as far south as the Gulf Coast and the Florida Peninsula in the United States.

The polar vortex mainly affects countries located in the northern hemispheres at mid and high latitudes. These regions are particularly sensitive to episodes of extreme cold.

What is the polar vortex?

The polar vortex rotates counterclockwise around the North Pole with wind speeds of around 155 mph (250 km/h).

There are two types of polar vortices: tropospheric and stratospheric.

The tropospheric polar vortex occurs in the lowest layer of the atmosphere, where most weather events occur. The vortex creates milder weather in northern latitudes.

The polar vortex we currently experience is a stratospheric polar vortex that typically occurs about 10 to 30 miles (16 to 48 km) above the Earth's surface and forms in the fall but disappears in the spring of each year.

When the stratospheric polar vortex is in a stable state, frigid Arctic air is confined to the polar regions.

But when it is weakened, cold winds extend beyond its circular North Pole region and extend as far south as Florida.

Warm air rising from the lower atmosphere weakens the polar vortex, allowing it to spread more widely. This upward movement of warm air can be triggered by significant weather conditions or phenomena, such as powerful winds in mountainous regions or changes in tropical climate systems.

Both types of polar vortices are important for global atmospheric circulation and climate regulation.

Are we constantly facing cold polar vortexes?

Extremely cold temperatures caused by a weakened polar vortex, although seasonal and cyclical in nature, are not an annual phenomenon. Indeed, the term polar vortex only became a popular public term in 2014.

The 2013-2014 polar vortex brought record cold and snowfall that swept across Canada and the eastern United States, plunging those regions into one of their coldest winters.

Major metropolitan areas, including New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, were blanketed in snow, with accumulations ranking among the 10 highest in their recorded history.

(Al Jazeera)

According to a paper published by NASA in 2015, the polar vortex of 2013-2014 resulted in 92.5% of the Great Lakes being covered with ice, the second most extensive ice cover observed by satellite. The surface of Lake Michigan froze at an unprecedented 93.3 percent on March 8, 2014, marking the highest ice coverage ever recorded for this Great Lake.

In 2014, many media outlets and weather reports discussed this atmospheric model at length, making it a household name. The extreme cold not only captured public attention, but also provided a widely accessible explanation for extreme weather, cementing the polar vortex in the cultural zeitgeist as a key factor in understanding winter weather in the northern hemisphere.

Is climate change affecting the polar vortex?

Researchers have attempted to understand the effect of climate change on the intensity or frequency of colder temperatures due to the polar vortex. Some data suggests that climate change could affect the polar vortex.

It makes sense that the polar vortex tends not to be as strong due to global warming, because the planet is not warming uniformly. Its warming is more at the pole, which overall decreases the strength of the polar vortex and jet stream and makes them more likely to be dislodged and sent toward us, said Steven Decker, director of the undergraduate meteorology program at Rutgers University last February.

Global warming weakens the polar vortex because the Earth does not heat up equally everywhere. The North Pole is warming faster than other places, weakening the polar vortex and the jet stream, a rapid current of air in the atmosphere. This allows the vortex to move more easily and bring colder air to many regions, including Europe and northern Asia.

The change results in warming of higher latitudes and a reduction in the temperature difference between the polar regions and warmer mid-latitudes. This weakens and destabilizes the polar jet stream, causing it to plunge toward lower latitudes, bringing polar air farther south, wrote Paul Ullrich, associate professor of regional climate modeling at the University of California, Davis, in a 2021 article.

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