News

The polar vortex is Earth's frozen guardian—but that guardian is starting to fail. This video dives into the science behind ...
The polar vortex can't be felt in the United States or anywhere on Earth. Brutally cold temperatures are heading to the Midwest and Northeast this week -- but don't mistake this for a polar vortex ...
The polar vortex is essentially a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of Earth’s poles. It constantly sits over the poles but expands in the winter.
The polar vortex – everyone's favorite wintertime whipping boy – is actually a gigantic, circular area of cold air high up in the atmosphere that typically spins over the North Pole ...
Disruptions to the polar vortex can cause severe weather in the U.S., such as in 2021 when Louisville, Kentucky saw "an abrupt end to the mostly tranquil weather the region had experienced for ...
The stratospheric polar vortex is smoother, smaller and more circular. It doesn’t exist year-round — instead it’s a whirlpool of frigid air that forms in the fall as the upper atmosphere cools.
The polar vortex is a broad region of freezing air that lives above the North Pole. It can make for frigid weather when the jet stream, which usually holds it in place, bends and lets that cold ...
A polar vortex “is a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the Earth’s poles,” the NWS explains. In the Northern Hemisphere, the vortex tends to expand in the winter ...
The science behind the polar vortex is incredibly complicated, and we've only recently begun to understand how changes at our planet's poles impact weather at more moderate latitudes.
The polar vortex is technically in the stratosphere, the middle layer of Earth's atmosphere. That area of low pressure is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, Furtado said.
The polar vortex has sort of stretched out an arm. The Two-Way. Must Reads. What Is The Polar Vortex And Why Is It Doing This To Us? January 7, 2014 12:00 PM ET. By . Mark Memmott ...