The polar vortex, a swirling mass of cold air encircling the North Pole, is sometimes disrupted by sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events, unleashing waves of frigid air that penetrate farther south than usual. Temperatures across North America and Europe drop precipitously when this happens, but such events remain hard to predict, meaning we can't easily warn people when SSW is imminent.

The polar vortex, a swirling mass of cold air encircling the North Pole, is sometimes disrupted by sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events, unleashing waves of frigid air that penetrate farther south than usual. Temperatures across North America and Europe drop precipitously when this happens, but such events remain hard to predict, meaning we can’t easily warn people when SSW is imminent.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.