A transplanted Southern Californian living in North Dakota Idaho, with some insights on life with deaf dogs, a gluten free spouse, and the occasional mischievous garden gnome. Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy.





Sunday, January 5, 2014

Polar Vortex, Historic Cold

I know that in winter I post a lot "jeez look how cold it is here" kinds of things.  These posts are only slightly meant to be an outlet for my complaining about the weather.  Mostly they're about cool weather related stuff that until we moved here 5 years ago, I'd never conceived of. For instance, I'd never heard the phrase "polar vortex" until this week. 

A polar vortex is a gigantic semi-permanent cyclone that hovers near each of the Earths' poles and can bring significant cold air to other areas during weakening/oscillation.  Essentially we'll have the weather that should be at the North Pole here in Grand Forks for a few days.  I won't tell you how much time I've spent browsing scientific websites reading about polar vortices (plural of vortex), but it's been quite fun.
As an accountant and numbers person, these numbers are fascinating to me.  These are numbers I never even would have thought possible until I moved here,  And granted, these are just the actual surface temperatures, this doesn't factor in the wind chill, which is expected to be in the -50, -60, even -70 range today through Tuesday - that's just plain crazy!!  Local news and the newspaper has stated that weather this cold "Hasn't been seen in the area in decades".

Weather forecast picture from the Grand Forks Herald.

1 comment:

Andy said...

Wind chill must be part of some military-industrial complex/defense industry plot. Why, right here in SoCal, it was 80 today, but the breeze made it feel like 75. Crazy polar vortex....