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The U.S. is receive phonograph recording - breaking insensate and sullen snow this week as another winter storm sweeps across several central and easterly country .
Wind gelidity between minus 30 and minus 60 degree Fahrenheit ( minus 34 and 51 grade Celsius ) have been forecast for the northern Plains over the next few daylight , and below - zero wind instrument chills will in all probability attain as far south as southerly Texas , Arkansas , western Tennessee and Kentucky , theNational Weather Service ( NWS)said in a post on Facebook .
The latest winter storm has brought heavy snow and plummeting temperatures to the U.S.
" An Arctic air mass is expected to plunge into the Central U.S. this calendar week , with high confidence for widespread , record - breaking cold , " NWS state in the prognosis . " Through Friday [ Feb. 21 ] , numerous everyday records are potential to be give away across the Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley with some locations experiencing their coldest temperature on record for so of late in the season . "
The violent storm is bringing heavy snow to millions of Americans as it go through the Midwest toward the mid - Atlantic , with some region set to receive up to 1 infantry ( 31 centimeters ) of snow through Thursday [ Feb. 20 ] , according to a statement liberate by the conditions websiteAccuWeather .
" Much of Virginia and North Carolina are going to be an right-down mess with snow and unsafe glass , " Bernie Rayno , primary on - line meteorologist at AccuWeather , said in the command .
Snow is also forecast for Kentucky , which has been experiencingdeadly floodingsince the weekend . The late tempest is the last in a back - to - back " February frenzy " of wintertime tempest , according to AccuWeather .
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Some media reportage has linked the latest good time of cold-blooded weather to the polar vortex — an area of low pressure and cold melodic line circulate around the North and South celestial pole in the stratosphere , which is a layer in the atmosphere between 7.5 and 31 miles ( 12 and 50 kilometers ) above Earth ’s surface . However , it is unreadable whether the polar whirl has actually play a substantial role .
Paul Pastelok , the lead long - range forecaster at AccuWeather , narrate Live Science in an email that a blocking pattern — area of mellow force per unit area — over northern Canada was the main driver forcing cold air to sink in the south into the central Plains and mid - Mississippi Valley . This cold air travel then clashed with warmer temperature further south to create storms .
" The February frenzy was driven by a sharp-worded contrast of affectionate temperatures along the Gulf Coast and cold air across the northerly Rockies , northerly Plains and Canada , " Pastelok said . " In between this sharp demarcation , there was a zona of stormy weather divide the two airmasses that has precede to this frenzy . "
What is the polar vortex?
diametric maelstrom exist throughout the year at the perch . In the Northern Hemisphere , the polar whirl expands many time over the wintertime , press insensate air travel south with the jet current . This expanding upon is often associated with the arriver of Arctic air in the neighboring U.S. , according to theNWS .
This winter , the vortex appears to have been unattackable and stable for the most part , according toNOAA ’s Polar Vortex Blog — a strong polar vortex like this would usually keep cold-blooded Arctic air out from the U.S.
" by and large when the polar maelstrom is strong , this means it ’s mainly centered over or near the pole with strong westerly winds twine around its sloshed center , holding acute coldness around the upper latitudes and upper levels of the aura , " Pastelok said .
Last week , warm temperatures in the stratosphere decrease the westward winds and weakened the whirl so it was more or less displaced from the North Pole . That enabled some cold to make its way further south , but mostly to Asia and Europe , accord to Pastelok .
" This weakening of the maelstrom and movement could have had some donation [ to ] the shift farther to the south of the polar Jet stream across southern Canada , and the cold that is impacting the U.S. this hebdomad and next workweek , " Pastelok say .
Is the polar vortex responsible for the winter storm?
Amy Butler , a enquiry scientist who studies the climate at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ’s ( NOAA ) Chemical Sciences Laboratory , enjoin that the role of the polar vortex in February ’s cold weather is somewhat unclear . The diametrical vortex is very strong but also currently stretched over North America .
" Some enquiry indicate that this [ stretching ] is colligate with increased cold air outbreaks over the central and easterly US ; however , the causality is not clear , " Butler secern Live Science in an e-mail . " It might be that the vortex is simply responding to the region of high-pitched insistence over the Arctic — the high pressure sensation could essentially be unfold the lowermost vortex aside . "
Butler think the in high spirits pressing in the Arctic — part of a shift of atmospherical press calledthe Arctic Oscillation — is most likely responsible for the cold weather in the central U.S.
" This realm of high pressure over the Arctic constitute a build up of air mass that helps to agitate the jet stream to the south and allow cold Arctic air to disgorge southward , " Butler said .
Why have there been so many polar vortex events?
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The Associated Press(AP ) reported on Feb. 14 that the polar vortex had adulterate for the tenth time this winter . Laura Ciasto , a meteorologist at NOAA ’s Climate Prediction Center , tell AP that meteorologist will want to read why this stretch is happening so often this year but noted that it could just be natural stochasticity .
Ciasto and Butler indite NOAA ’s Polar Vortex Blog , where they often explicate that cold weather has nothing to do with the diametric vortex . Butler told Live Science that she thinks there have not been many , if any , truly polar maelstrom - driven consequence this winter .
" We traditionally think of a polar vortex ' event ' as when the vortex is disrupted or slack down quickly , and the vortex or else has been very strong all winter , " Butler tell .
Is climate change altering the polar vortex?
The jury is still out on whether humans are altering the polar vortex throughclimate change . globular temperatures are warming aroundfour times fasterin the Arctic than in the rest of the world . This Arctic gain happens because icing chew over more sunlight than land or water system . As Arctic ocean ice melts , the part take up more sunlight and warms up quicker than non - ice regions , consort to theInternational Science Council .
Some studies suggest that Arctic warming might be disrupting the diametric vortex . For example , a 2021 study published in the journalSciencefound that Arctic amplification was likely an important factor in polar whirlpool stretching events that brought utmost cold to North America in 2021 .
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