Polar vortex, the reason of the extreme colder weather in the US this year

News24xx.com - Polar Vortex is a low-pressure cold air flow that rotates at the north and south poles of the Earth. This cold air flow rotates in the opposite direction. Usually this cold air vortex rotates constantly in the north or south. But, during the winter, this air flow sometimes becomes unstable and widens randomly.

When this event occurs, the affected area can usually experience temperatures below zero degrees, as quoted from Scijinks.gov. When this happens during the winter in the northern hemisphere, it usually has the impacts on surrounding countries such as Canada, the United States, Russia, or northern China.

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In the United States, these events often occur and are often associated with cold air outbreaks, as reported by weather.gov. As a result of this phenomenon, the weather in Chicago reached minus 28 degrees Celsius and even parts of Ontario reached minus 54 degrees Celsius.

At the same time, the temperature in Alaska, which is closer to the North Pole, is only minus 11 degrees Celsius. Similar extreme weather had hit Canada and the US in 2014. As a result of extreme cold weather some parts of Niagara waterfalls started to freeze.

The effect of global warming and climate change on the increasing frequency of polar vortex is still a problem. Researchers began to be able to uncover the effects of global warming and climate change on rainfall, heat waves, forest fires and droughts. But they still haven't found evidence that global warming has an effect on the polar vortex.

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