These occur during most winters, but exceptional, record-breaking low temperatures and snowfall were measured all over North America Since the northern polar vortex is less stable than its southern counterpart, it tends to have more noticeable effects. This can bring bitter cold southwards all the way to the southern United States and Mexico. Happens, a mass of polar air may even become completely detached from the polar vortex and travel south. As the polar vortex weakens, the jet stream and polar front also develop a meandering, wobbling shape. The air is still very cold and many areas of the country experience exceptional cold for a few days to several weeks. As spring approaches, the polar vortex and polar jet stream begin to weaken, and polar air begins to In Canada, this tends to happen in the latter stages of most winters. This isīecause there is less of a rotation to constrain the polar air to polar regions. Not only is there less air being blown from the ocean to land, but polar air may also change course and travel further away from the pole. On the other hand, when the polar vortex weakens, there is a risk of cold weather further from the poles. While it remains around the pole, though, it becomes colder and colder. A strong polar vortex also keeps polar air spinning around the pole, preventing it from travelling towards the equator. Winters at mid-latitudes such as most of North America. For this reason, a strong polar vortex tends to favour milder In winter, the air above the ocean is warmer than on land. Strong winds tend to carry air from the ocean’s surface towards land and vice-versa. When the polar vortex is strong, winds are strong. This is mainly because the Antarctic continent is much more symmetrical than the area surrounding the North Pole. Overall, the northern polar vortex exhibits more seasonal and regional variation than its southern counterpart. In the summer, they become weaker, and sometimes even reverse direction.
Since their formationĭepends on differential heating ( see “Formation”), polar vortices are strongest in the winter, when the difference between temperatures at the equator and pole is highest. The behavior of polar vortices also varies seasonally. These are mostly due to land masses and sea ice, which cause more friction with the air than oceans do. Within polar vortices, different wind patterns can be found on smaller scales. The boundary’s shape can vary considerably over time due to various factors. This boundary is also called a polar front. The boundary between warm, subtropical air masses and cold, polar air masses. The reason that they are areas of maximum wind speed is because they are located at They form by the same basic mechanism as polar vortices - warm air moving towards the poles, then being deviated eastward by the rotation of the Earth. These are tunnels of maximum wind speed which flow from They are located at the southern boundary of the northern polar vortex, and the northern boundary of the southern polar vortex. In each hemisphere, polar jet streams form. At high latitudes, the combined result of these atmospheric movements isĪ dominant wind towards the east - counter-clockwise around the North Pole and clockwise around the South Pole. Conversely, in the southern hemisphere, warm air moving south veers to the left and begins to move east, while cold air moving north ends up deviating westward. Meanwhile, cold, polar air moving southward will also veer to the right, causing it In the northern hemisphere, the warm air moving north tends to veer to the right and begin moving east. These forces create east-west winds, also known as zonal winds. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the opposite - movement is curved to the left. Its direction of movement curved to the right. Because of these forces, any object in motion in the northern hemisphere will have Once these air masses begin moving north and south, their direction becomes influenced by the Coriolis and centrifugal forces, which are generated by the Earth’s rotation. To move towards the poles, while cooler polar air moves towards the equator. To even out this imbalance, warm air tends It creates an imbalance in atmospheric heat between the different latitudes. Polar vortices are the result of two planetary phenomena: the heat difference between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the Earth.īecause areas closer to the equator receive more sunlight than the poles, the air there is warmer.
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