What is a Polar Vortex?
By: Madeline Patrick
What is this freezing weather!? It was only a few weeks ago when it was 50 degrees, and now there is a wind-chill of -6 degrees and there is 5 inches of snow on the ground. There is only one thing to blame: the polar vortex. In the simplest terms, this weather pattern is a large pocket of very cold air in an area of low pressure.
To go into the specifics, a large high pressure system from the Pacific that stretches to the North Pole is required to create the polar vortex. On the rare occasion that the air pocket dips into the US, we experience cold weather and often heavy snow.
By: Madeline Patrick
What is this freezing weather!? It was only a few weeks ago when it was 50 degrees, and now there is a wind-chill of -6 degrees and there is 5 inches of snow on the ground. There is only one thing to blame: the polar vortex. In the simplest terms, this weather pattern is a large pocket of very cold air in an area of low pressure.
To go into the specifics, a large high pressure system from the Pacific that stretches to the North Pole is required to create the polar vortex. On the rare occasion that the air pocket dips into the US, we experience cold weather and often heavy snow.