Why is it So Cold Right Now? (Polar Vortex)

[Argyle38]

I blame Canada. We get all our worst weather from Canada.



Unless it's summer time. Then I blame Africa.



Damn foreigners.

[Lihuedooley77]

When I saw those way below freezing temps on our national weather charts, I told myself to stop my wimp sniveling when our morning temps in socal dropped to the 40"s.

I was getting ready to hook the white dogs up to the front of the car, and mush them to happy hour in dana point harbor.

I admit to weather wimpdom, and will be staying put .

You all stay warm and toasty, and safe.

[GordMay]

Ok, just to change things up, and escape our current cold snap:

Death Valley, California, USA currently holds the record for hottest air temperature ever recorded. The desert valley reached highs of 56.70C in the summer of 1913, which would apparently push the limits of human survival. Average temperatures today reach 47 degrees C (116.60F) during summer, and it’s the driest place in the States. It’s not called Death Valley for nothing!

Aziziyah, Libya, he former capital of the Jafara district, 25 miles south of Tripoli, used to claim the title of hottest place on earth – in 1922 the temperature was recorded as a sweltering 58 degrees. However, it was stripped of its title in 2012 when meteorologists declared this invalid due to a number of factors, including the fact that the person who recorded it was inexperienced. However, the town still regularly experiences temperatures of over 48 degrees (118.40F) in midsummer.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, Bangkok is the hottest city on the planet - not because of any particularly impressive peak temperatures, but because it is consistently hot all year round. The city boasts a mean annual temperature of 84.5ºF/ 29ºC, coupled with high humidity and an average of 128 rainy days per year; while the highest temperature on record is 104.5ºF/ 40ºC.

Although Miami has the highest mean annual temperature of any U.S. city, Phoenix Arizona claims the hottest average highs in summer. Between 1981 and 2010, Phoenix boasted an average of 107 days per year with a high of at least 100 °F/ 38 °C, while the city’s record high is a staggering 122ºF/ 50ºC.

Las Vegas, Nevada averages over 70 days a year with temperatures in the triple digits, and has reached its all-time record high of 117 (47.20C) on several occasions.

Oodnadatta, an exotic and desolate town (pop. 277) in the Australian Outback, hit 123 degrees C (253.40F) in January 1960. On average, the weather tops off at between 97 to 99 degrees from December through February, considerably cooler than the city’s record high, yet still stifling. It also receives about 10 hours of sunshine per day in December and averages 6.5 inches of rainfall per year.


Meanwhile, we Canadians just can't compete, on heat.


St. Albans and Emerson, Manitoba have recorded 44.4 °C / 111.9 °F on July 11 and 12, 1936. Winnipeg, Manitoba also gets hot. On July 11, 1936, they reached 42.2 °C (108 °F).

As for White River, Ontario, which advertises itself as "The Coldest Spot in Canada", with recorded temperatures as low as −58 °C (−72 °F), it’s not even the coldest spot in Ontario, which is Iroquois Falls on 23 January 1935 [−58.3 °C (−72.9 °F)]; which is also the lowest temperature ever recorded in Eastern Canada.

[GordMay]

Canada's Coldest Day In 1947 at Snag in the Yukon
Good article ➥ https://www.canadashistory.ca/explor...-s-coldest-day

[Argyle38]

Because Canada.


http://twitter.com/Steverukavina/sta...82689835982849

[wolfgal]

Hi Gord,

i haven't read all the posts yet (pardon), but...


(and i'm hesitating because i do not liked getting slammed... please be nice guys)




but... i've got this idea about why it is so cold there (a few days ago) and have been hoping to find someone to talk to about it; and well, you've brought up the question.

ok, imagine what is going on with the molten stuff that anchors the magnetic north pole beneath the earth's crust...

we know that it is moving really rather quickly out over toward Russia...


(do we know where it is right now?)


take a look at the image lacteal posted


you see it too...


yes, my theory is this: all that hot-hot-hot below the earth's surface might affects temps above it and how the cold vortex does its vortex-thing...

(i will read more about the cold vortex tomorrow -- am dripping with sleep)

if i dare taking this farther:

if my theory on this turns out to be at least partly founded (and the molten-hot continues to move farther away), then it could be that cold temps in the winter in that area would become common

Originally Posted by alctel

It is. Today is still 0.3c over average, the Antarctic is 0.8c warmer than average and the artic is 0.5c warmer than average - although some parts are way warmer - the north pole right now is 14c warmer than average



It's possible that as the planet (and esp the polar regions) continues to warm, these polar vortex events are going to become more and more common

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by GordMay

...As for White River, Ontario, which advertises itself as "The Coldest Spot in Canada", with recorded temperatures as low as −58 °C (−72 °F), it’s not even the coldest spot in Ontario, which is Iroquois Falls on 23 January 1935 [−58.3 °C (−72.9 °F)]; which is also the lowest temperature ever recorded in Eastern Canada.

Oops … 72F.

Hey, is that you and the family on a road trip Gord? Cute…

[billgewater]

Ah. Finally! Usually we get the tirade about the "obvious global cooling" and that the Chinese are propagating the line about global warming and climate change.

The instability of the rotating arctic air mass may just be a factor we have to learn to live with. Like the extreme heat waves in Australia and our dying coral reefs. The one that worries many is the possible shift in the gulf stream which keeps SE England warm.

But will we collectively do anything about it?

[Tayana42]

I’ve lived in St. Paul, MN, then moved to Phoenix, AZ then on to Jacksonville, FL. Now I live in Long Beach, CA. I can tell you that cold is too cold. Hot is too hot. Humid is too sticky. Just right is just right.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by billgewater

Ah. Finally! Usually we get the tirade about the "obvious global cooling" and that the Chinese are propagating the line about global warming and climate change.

The instability of the rotating arctic air mass may just be a factor we have to learn to live with. Like the extreme heat waves in Australia and our dying coral reefs. The one that worries many is the possible shift in the gulf stream which keeps SE England warm.

But will we collectively do anything about it?

You know, I spent a couple of weeks in the Great Lakes region of the USA back in January '94. Temperatures of -29 degrees Celcius were recorded in Chicago during that time. There was a story in the news of an old lady that froze to the floor of her apartment for a few days after she knelt down to wipe up a spill. No one had ever heard of the "polar vortex" back then. It was just a cold spell.

[DeepFrz]

Here is a link to an explanation that should answer the OP's original question. Of course the right answer is "it isn't" so cold right now where it isn't cold right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTeZb15DfJ0

[deblen]

Originally Posted by Argyle38

I blame Canada. We get all our worst weather from Canada.



Unless it's summer time. Then I blame Africa.



Damn foreigners.

No!!No-o-o!


Africa sends those damn hurricanes that cause discomfort in the USA & Canada.


Canada fights back with the "worst weather" we can find to send south!!


It's you mercans that don't send it back to those da-n Africans to punish them for the hurricanes.


I believe that youse don't send the polar vortexes,snow & other Cdn sh-t (that we work hard to generate) onward to the Carib & Africa because you are all yachting in the Carib sun.


I believe some Cdns have figgard this out-& joined you. In don't think many folks in northern states-Wisconson,Maine,Dakotas-have caught on ta ya yet either. (I haven,t met that many of them in Fla.)


North American traitors-the lot of ya! A frozen pox on ya! Balls on a brass monkey-I say!

[anacapaisland42]

It's only cold in Thunder Bay, the rest of us are enjoying a balmy snow-less winter!
Bill
Westport (near Ottawa), Ontario



[QUOTE=GordMay;2813663]Why is it So Cold Right Now?

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Group9

Next Maunder type solar minimum starting to arrive?

Yes?

Are We Headed Towards Another Deep Solar Minimum?

And... The earth's magnetic field may be starting to flip...

Earth Magnetic Field Still Decaying/

[GordMay]

At the same time much of Canada & The USA is in a deep freeze, other parts of the world are experiencing the opposite.

The atmosphere is always trying to balance out its energy. So right now, on the other side of the globe, parts of northern Europe and northern Russia, they're actually experiencing record-breaking warm temperatures for this time of the year, and really close to the north pole.
In the past, the jet stream moved fairly smoothly around the northern hemisphere. But recently, it's developed more pronounced kinks that can bring cold, Arctic air much farther south than in the past, or bring heat from the Gulf of Mexico further north than has been typical.
And it's linked to the Arctic.
Though it's a relatively new area of study, there's increasing evidence* that suggests this phenomenon will happen more often and become more extreme.

* “Persistent shift of the Arctic polar vortex towards the Eurasian continent in recent decades”
“The wintertime Arctic stratospheric polar vortex has weakened over the past three decades, and consequently cold surface air from high latitudes is now more likely to move into the middle latitudes. However, it is not known if the location of the polar vortex has also experienced a persistent change in response to Arctic climate change and whether any changes in the vortex position have implications for the climate system. Here, through the analysis of various data sets and model simulations, we show that the Arctic polar vortex shifted persistently towards the Eurasian continent and away from North America in February over the past three decades. This shift is found to be closely related to the enhanced zonal wavenumber-1 waves in response to Arctic sea-ice loss, particularly over the Barents–Kara seas (BKS)...
... In summary, our analysis suggested that the vortex shift towards Eurasia could lead to a cooler climate over some parts of the continents during late winter and early spring, which may partly offset the climate warming in these seasons. Under the scenario of persistent sea-ice loss due to global warming in the future, the potential polar vortex shift and its associated climatic influences deserve public attention. As a final remark, other factors, such as polar stratospheric ozone depletion and AO, may also have impacts on the vortex position and these issues are worth further investigation.”

* The Paper ☞ https://www.nature.com/articles/ncli...ingtonpost.com