Photo credit: Newsweek / The Weather Channel
The polar vortex swirling above the arctic broke apart into three parts to start off 2019, and now the eastern half of the United States is about to feel its effects. Recent weather models project the onset of a severe and punishing winter weather pattern in just over 10 days, with extreme cold, which will hit the Patriots-Chiefs game on Sunday as well. Despite the polar vortex splitting in the beginning of January, it often takes weeks for the effects to become apparent in day-to-day weather. Read more for another video and additional information.
A massive blast of a extremely cold Arctic air is forecast to plunge into the eastern U.S. late this week and into this weekend, the coldest so far in a few areas. “I think the snowstorm this weekend was related to the vortex split. I think we’re seeing the impacts already. The first order impact [of a vortex split] is that you slow the west to east flow and add more of a north-south component. There’s a much greater exchange of arctic air that’s moving south,” said Judah Cohen, a researcher at Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Boston, and polar vortex expert.
