https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/climate/polar-vortex-winter-cold-weather.html By Henry Fountain , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The polar vortex is descending on the midsection of the United States, bringing bitterly cold Arctic air and causing temperatures to plunge rapidly in many areas. The deep freeze will be accompanied by a major snowstorm that is expected to cause travel chaos. The vortex is a large rotating expanse of cold air that generally circles the Arctic, but occasionally shifts south from the pole. Vortex-related cold snaps occur regularly in the United States. One of the most damaging occurred in February 2021, when the frigid air reached deep into Texas, resulting in temperatures that were as much as 40 degrees Fahrenheit below normal. That freeze led to at least 250 deaths and caused extensive damage to the state’s power infrastructure. As global emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide continue, the Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than other parts ...

https://eos.org/articles/the-who-what-when-where-and-why-of-the-polar-vortex Source: By  Katherine Kornei , EosAGU.  Excerpt: The polar vortex is a media darling. Headlines frequently announce that it’s  coming ,  collapsing , or  splitting , and articles often tout its role in  record-setting winter storms . But misconceptions about this atmospheric phenomenon abound, and scientists are still untangling its effects on our weather. ...“circumpolar vortex,” typically refers to a swirling mass of air at far northern or southern latitudes. “It’s a region of high wind speed that encircles the pole,”.... ...recent decreases in Arctic sea ice cover—triggered by climate change—have been  linked to a more unstable stratospheric polar vortex .... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/14/us/winter-storm-snow-ice.html Source: By   Rick Rojas   and   Marie Fazio , The New York Times. Excerpt: A coast-to-coast winter storm swept from Oregon and Washington to the Southeast on Sunday, part of a frigid weather pattern that created record low temperatures in Minnesota and a 100-vehicle traffic pileup in Texas and that is now producing dangerous conditions across much of the country because of heavy snowfall, perilous ice and dangerously low temperatures. The National Weather Service   said early Monday   that at least 150 million Americans were under ice or winter weather advisories. Hundreds of thousands of people were without power. ...300,000 customers in Oregon and 150,000 in Virginia were also without electricity ...Temperatures in parts of Oklahoma were 40 degrees lower than usual for this time of year, the National Weather Service said. The duration of the cold conditions is also unusual: Oklahoma may experi...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/30/climate/polar-vortex-weather-climate-change.html Source: By  John Schwartz , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Rough  winter weather  is working its way across the United States, with bitterly cold air hitting the Northeast and snowstorms expected along the East Coast next week. ...Disturbances to the upper-atmosphere phenomena known as the polar vortex can send icy blasts from the Arctic into the middle latitudes, chilling Europe, Asia and parts of North America. The disturbance and its effects have persisted for an unusually long time this year, said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, with two disruptions of the polar vortex so far this year and, potentially, a third on the way. ...Research into the interplay of the complex factors that bring on blasts from the polar vortex is ongoing, but climate change appears to be part of the mix. ...The United States  has already seen heavy snowfa...

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/an-extraordinary-winter-in-the-polar-north Source:  By   Kate Wheeling , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: The winter of 2019–2020 in the Northern Hemisphere was one of extremes. The massive region of cold polar air encircled by stratospheric winds, known as the stratospheric polar vortex, was particularly strong, keeping the frigid air whirling above the polar region and leading to a very   mild winter   in many regions farther south. The strong polar vortex coincided with a record-breaking positive   Arctic Oscillation   circulation pattern and record low ozone levels in the Arctic that lasted into spring. In a review, published as part of an AGU   special collection ,   Lawrence et al. outline the unique conditions that allowed this “truly extraordinary” winter season to arise....  

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/01/polar-vortex-weather-forecasting-good-now/581605/ Source:   By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic. Excerpt: The polar vortex is just the latest example of how reliable five-day forecasts have become. ... It is dangerous, record-breaking, can’t-look-away weather. Yet this cold snap’s arrival was preceded by a marvel so spectacular that we hardly noticed it: It was correctly predicted. As early as a month ago, forecasters knew that colder-than-average weather would likely strike North America this month; a week ago, computer models spit out some of the same figures that appeared on thermometers today. ...“A modern five-day forecast is as accurate as a one-day forecast was in 1980,” says a new paper, published last week in the journal Science. “Useful forecasts now reach nine to 10 days into the future.”...  See also How far out can we forecast the weather? Scientists have a new answer [ https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/02/ho...