Four weeks after a disruption to the polar vortex, chillier and stormier weather is trickling toward the mid-latitudes.
The stratospheric polar vortex is like a fierce atmospheric whirlpool located at two or three times the altitude that commercial aircraft fly. Frigid temperatures over the North Pole, brought on by a lack of sunlight, cause columns of air to become more dense and contract toward the ground. That creates a void of sorts in the upper atmosphere, which induces an inward vacuum-like effect. As the surrounding air spirals counterclockwise into the vortex, it too cools, repeating the same process.
First, the weakening of the polar vortex helped flip the AO, or Arctic Oscillation, to a negative state. When the AO is positive, frigid air tends to be bottled up over the Arctic as the polar vortex is strong and stable. But when the AO swings negative, it signals that the vortex has become disturbed and floodgates are open for Arctic air to spill south.
On a phone call, Cohen explained that the effects of the vortex disruption probably began at least a week ago.“I do think we’ve already seen impacts,” he said. “We had a closed low [pressure system] over western Russia and Eastern Europe. It kind of got cold and snowy there. We also saw a closed low tried to develop in the Canadian Maritimes. Boston, New York and D.C. haven’t seen much snow, but the New England ski resorts did.
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