Deadly Polar Vortex with Life-Threatening Low Temperatures Blasts Most of America

The polar vortex is known as the bubble of Arctic air that normally remains confined to the area surrounding the North Pole. However, it is being reported that extreme cold temperatures currently hitting Canada and the Northern United States and Midwest are the polar vortex itself, temporarily migrating into the Great Lakes region.

Normally this whirlpool of air from the Arctic, dropping well below zero degrees Fahrenheit, is confined to the North Pole. However, the explanation provided for the vortex apparently breaking free and spreading all the way south from the Dakotas to West Virginia, is that warming in the Arctic may have broken the zone of containment.

Nearly 90 million Americans are expected to endure low temperatures at or below zero degrees Fahrenheit (-17.7 Celsius), according to the National Weather Service. It was reported that the worst stream of cold air is stretching from Ohio to Minnesota, but the metropolitan areas of Chicago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan are among the worst to be affected.

(The famous Chicago Bean covered in frost, in the midst of the city’s characteristic cold weather. Image credit: businessinsider)

On Wednesday, a low temperature of -23 degrees Fahrenheit (-30.5 Celsius) was recorded in Chicago, constituting a tie for the fifth coldest temperature since records began to be kept by the weather service in 1872.

Thursday will most likely see a match for the coldest temperature ever to be recorded in Chicago, at -27 Fahrenheit (-32.7 Celsius).

(The extent of the 2019 polar vortex in color. Image credit: dailymail)

The New York Post reported: