Forecasters have warned of snow and ice from mid-February as they predict that a Sudden Stratospheric Warming event strong enough to bring down a "behemoth" of a polar vortex will take place.

This fast spinning vortex is about 50,000 feet in the atmosphere. You might think a strong polar vortex brings wicked winter weather. Cohen explains it’s actually just the opposite. After the ...

The temperature contrast makes for strong winds in the stratosphere that blow from west to east. This wintertime stratospheric wind is what we call the Arctic polar vortex. An atmosphere dance ...

Next week, it looks like the strong polar vortex signal may briefly couple all the way to the surface, as the polar vortex winds briefly strengthen once again to near daily records. However ...

“And so, when the polar vortex strengthens and becomes strong over the pole, typically what happens as a result of that is that most of the cold is captured and concentrated over the polar region.

The polar vortex has a naturally occurring east-to-west orientation that keeps the cold arctic air in place. But when the vortex weakens or breaks down, it can dip farther south - from a strong ...

“The jet stream goes from west to east, and a strong polar vortex is going to come in here and disrupt that,” said Franks. “So it’ll slow down the jet stream. And if it’s strong ...

“And so, when the polar vortex strengthens and becomes strong over the pole, typically what happens as a result of that is that most of the cold is captured and concentrated over the polar region.

The polar vortex is area of fast-moving winds well above the Earth’s surface and the jet stream that circle the Arctic during the Northern Hemisphere’s coldest months. When it’s strong ...

The jet stream acts like a barrier, keeping the polar vortex in check. When the jet stream is strong, it flows in a straight, stable path because of large differences in air pressure between ...