01/30/2025

Warmth is Weakening the Polar Vortex

Here’s what it means for extreme cold

The blast of cold that fueled record snowfall across Gulf Coast beaches last week was just the latest to transport frigid air that normally swirls above the North Pole to places much farther south — a phenomenon that researchers connect to a warming climate.

While scientists say that there is not evidence that extreme cold is becoming more frequent or intense, a growing body of research is finding that rising temperatures in the Arctic are weakening weather systems that normally trap the cold around the poles, making winter weather more chaotic. This shift is encouraging the erratic weather patterns high in the atmosphere that can cast chills even on regions with typically balmy climates, some research suggests, threatening to overwhelm communities not prepared for such frigid conditions.

Last week's intrusion of polar air followed events like one that overwhelmed Texas' power grid in 2021 and another that set record lows across the hardy Midwest in 2014.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.