Snowstorm devastated the US in January 2019, claiming 22 lives. Thick ice sheets covered various states of the US, with temperatures falling well below the freezing point in Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania. Even Texas, a comparatively warmer place, experienced a cold wave. In February 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a warning about a sudden change in the high atmospheric temperature of the North Pole, mentioning that extremely cold wind from the Arctic would rock the US, Canada and Europe at the end of that year.

According to researchers, the Polar Vortex was behind all these. Polar Vortex, or a Circumpolar Vortex, is basically a large region of cold, rotating air; as polar vortices encircle both the polar regions of the Earth. The air remains weak in summer, but becomes strong in winter. Scientists have explained that the southward movement of bone-chilling cold wind from the equator causes the dangerous polar vortex. The term vortex refers to the anti-clockwise motion of air that helps keep cold wind moving in the polar regions. In the Northern Hemisphere, the polar vortex expands further, sending currents of cold air at a faster speed towards the south, during winter. It happens on a regular basis in winter, and the US feels the cold wave.

Scientists have predicted that the polar vortex would be more frequent in the coming years. And if it continues, then the Ice Age may return to the Earth in the future! Gradually, snow would cover the planet and living creatures might become extinct. Meanwhile, environmentalists have blamed Global Warming for this. It may be noted that an increase in the incidence of the polar vortex does not necessarily mean that the Earth is cooling down. On the contrary, the polar vortex warms Planet Earth, disrupting the winter cycle and affecting the polar atmosphere.

The world is getting hotter day by day. At the same time, a combination of a warm air stream from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, and a cold air stream from Canada creates a Nor’easter, bringing heavy snow to the East Coast of the US. North and South Carolina, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Maine, too, are experiencing heavy snowfall in winter. The cold wind from the North Pole, too, reaches those parts of the US, making it difficult for people to survive in winter.

Although the polar vortex remains confined to a specific location and moves between certain areas, Global Warming makes the region warm and (comparatively) hot wind moves southward (to the US, Canada and Europe). Hence, scientists believe that the disruption of temperature variability due to Global Warming would increase the incidences of polar vortex. It would gradually move beyond the US and Europe, and the entire world would be covered in snow at some point!

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das