Polar Vortex Expected To Bring Record Breaking Low Temperatures To U.S.

• Polar vortex could freeze over Great Lakes, making for frigid remainder of winter

• Polar Vortex pushes cold air from North Pole down to U.S. potentially as far as Gulf Coast

Polar vortex likely to bring record breaking low temperatures
Image by AP

Much of the country is already digging their way out of snow drifts, and what’s in the forecast?  A polar vortex.

A deep freeze unlike any seen in decades is expected to hit parts of the Midwest on Sunday.  The polar vortex, as its now being called, is likely to break record low temperatures.

The polar vortex is caused by a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air.  This cold air from the North Pole will be pushed down to the U.S., potentially as far as the Gulf Coast.

Record breaking low temperatures during this polar vortex were predicted by meteorologist Ryan Maue.  “All the ingredients are there for a near-record or historic cold outbreak,” he said “If you’re under 40 (years old), you’ve not seen this stuff before.”

With snow already covering the ground and more to come, the sun’s heat will not be as effective.  Nighttime lows are expected to drop sharply due to the strong winds that will bring the polar vortex.

With shocking temperature predictions of 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago, and wind chills that could hit 50, 60 or even 70 below zero, hypothermia and frostbite are at the forefront of worries.

The polar vortex is only expected to last a few days, however it is likely to freeze the Great Lakes, meaning what remains of winter will be potentially  frigid.

“It’s relatively uncommon to have such frigid air blanket so much of the U.S., maybe once a decade or every couple of decades, but in the long-run the deep temperature dives are less meaningful for comparison to other storms than daytime highs that are below-zero and long cold spells,” Ryan Maue states,”Right now for the winter we will have had two significant shots of major Arctic air and we’re only through the first week of January. And we had a pretty cold December.”