Friday, January 25, 2013

Polar Vortex Takes Another Swing at Northern US

The latest GFS model forecast has the polar vortex taking another swing at the Northern US in the next 5-7 days, as January begins to wrap up.

As I have been fearing, the multiple sudden stratospheric warmings are taking their toll on the polar vortex here at the surface. We already had the initial impact of the split polar vortex over Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and now appear to be looking at Round 2. As the 500mb forecast above details, there could be a second, stronger blast of cold air that hits the northern part of the nation. The GFS places this piece of the vortex substantially further south than the previous brush with the vortex; that one went into South Canada.

It does not matter where this piece of the vortex goes, because the ball has already been rolling on what we could face in February. I have been seeing consistent forecasts that detail a full stratospheric polar vortex breakdown, more on that later tonight.

Andrew

5 comments:

Unknown said...

will the eastern us experience it as well including the southeast

Anonymous said...

Thanks Andrew. Can't imagine the Shenandoah Valley getting any colder! We're in the northern part of the valley and have missed out on any good snow fall....still hoping:) February looks to be an exciting month and thanks for your reporting.

Anonymous said...

in your next post on this could you please pin point some of the states that could be hit by this next swing
thanks

Andrew said...

Anonymous at 7:05: You'll have to use the map to see where it goes.

Indndawg said...

So far this winter has been far from 1985 here in the south. Not impressed not one bit.