COTW: Polar Vortex Slams Midwest

Update:; Seven people have died so far in the frigid weather engulfing the nation's midsection. Chicago's temperature fell to minus 22℉. Windchill is an amazing -49℉, colder than parts of Antarctica. In cold like that frostbite occurs in less than 10 minutes of exposure. People have been advised to stay indoors and bring their pets inside. Snow will fall in significant amounts Wednesday throughout the affected region. US Postal Service has suspended deliveries in ten states. Air and rail transport has been shut down.


{29.01.2019} Chicago will experience the coldest weather on record Tuesday and Wednesday when low temperatures hit minus 15 and 16 ℉.  When wind chill is factored for the "windy city", the cold will be Antarctic class and dangerous to exposed humans.  Here are the charts:

A polar vortex is also termed an arctic cyclone in which high speed winds circle the pole around a center of relatively calm air.  The air temperature in the center could reach -130 ℉. (the coldest recorded air temperature is -129 ℉ in Antarctica) Climate scientists see a possible connection between a polar vortex and melting of the polar ice cap due to global warming. Arctic temperatures have increased at twice the rate of the rest of the globe and could increase another 14 degrees by the end of the century.  A dark, ice free Arctic Ocean, absorbs more sunlight than an ice covered one, which reflects the sun's energy back into space, thus regulating Earth's climate.  The extra absorbed energy weakens the vortex, allowing it to sink farther south, bringing extreme arctic cold to inhabited regions like the Midwest. [charts courtesy of NOAA]

weaker polar vortex on right