Is this the North Pole's climate change counterstrike? An icy piece of the Arctic is drifting deep over the United States bringing it the coldest temperatures in decades to more than half the nation. The bitter-cold weather is being produced by what is called a "polar vortex", a deep low pressure system drawing down cold air direct from the Arctic.

The whirlpool of sub-zero air is sweeping over the US central and eastern states after spearing down over the Great Lakes, causing the cancellation of 14,000 flights, chaos on the roads and even frostbite. Normally, the swirling mass of frigid air orbits over the North Pole. Something has sent the system spinning southward over Canada and the United States.

When wind-chill is included, temperatures in places such as the Midwest and Plains will feel as though they are -45C, the Weather Channel asserts. Warnings are being urgently broadcast in several states that exposed skin will freeze "within in minutes". "This winter storm will be one for the record books and we want to make sure everyone stays safe and warm until it passes," Illinois Governor Pat Quinn warned his people.

And it's not only the US that is copping an Arctic ice-lashing. Britain is taking a beating, too. Waves up to 8 meters high are slamming into Britain's southwestern coast , as lashing winds and heavy rain batter parts of the UK and coastal residents braced for another round of flooding. The monster waves were recorded at Land's End, the southwestern tip of the UK.

Icy whirlpool's wide-spread chill

As a "polar vortex" usually spins in one place over the ice, the air it has trapped gets colder and colder. This air becomes so dense that, even when expelled from its Arctic chiller, it can travel a great distance without any noticeable warming. Today is expected to be the most bone-chilling day of the snap with freezing temperatures forecast for all 48 continental US states. Yes, that includes Texas and Florida. It's the coldest Arctic outbreak since the early 1990s.

One train on the route from Detroit to Chicago has already disabled for up to nine hours after its engine froze solid. One person was killed when a private jet skidded on the ice on a runway in Aspen, Colorado. US Airline officials said de-icing fluid was freezing solid inside aircraft, fuel was pumping sluggishly, and ramp workers were having difficulty loading and unloading luggage.

Britain battens down

Britain's month-long bout of harsh weather is also taking its toll. In Aberystwyth in Wales, seafront homes, businesses and student residence halls were evacuated as high tides hit the Welsh coast. The Met Office, Britain's weather forecasting body, warned of wind gusts up to 70 mph (113 kph) and exceptionally large waves along the coasts of Wales, southwest England and Northern Ireland.

At least seven people have died in a wave of stormy weather that has battered Britain since December, including a man killed when his mobility scooter fell into a river in Oxford, southern England. The Environment Agency issued three severe flood warnings Monday - meaning there is a threat to life and property - for the county of Dorset in southwestern England, as well as more than 300 less serious flood alerts.

Polar relief

The United States' "polar vortex" is currently sitting over Hudson Bay. It is not expected to start dissipating until Thursday. "It's just a dangerous cold," said National Weather Service meteorologist Butch Dye. It hasn't been this cold for almost two decades in many parts of the country. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in within minutes. "I have seen frostbite occur through clothing," said Douglas Brunette, an emergency room doctor in Minneapolis. "It's not enough just to be covered. You need clothes made for the elements. You need to repel the wind."

The forecast is extreme: -35 Celsius in North Dakota, and -26 Celsius in Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills - what it feels like when high winds are factored into the temperature - could drop into the -45 to -51 Celsius range. In New York City, the temperature was expected to drop sharply from about 11 Celsius to about 10 -12 Celsius overnight as the arctic air moved in.

The Indianapolis mayor upgraded the city's travel emergency level to "red," making it illegal for anyone to drive except for emergencies or seeking shelter. The last time the city issued such a travel warning was 1978.

Accounts of life with the ice

Elnur Toktombetov, a Chicago taxi driver, said that an hour into his shift, his Toyota's windows were still coated with ice on the inside. Many cities came to a virtual standstill. School was called off on Monday for the state of Minnesota. Government offices and courts in several states closed. Southern states were bracing for possible record cold temperatures, too. With two freezing nights ahead, Louisiana citrus farmers could lose any fruit they cannot pick in time.

Between a heater that barely works and the drafty windows that invite the cold air inside his home, Jeffery Davis decided he'd be better off sitting in a doughnut shop for three hours Monday until it was time to go to work in downtown Chicago. So he threw on two pairs of pants, two t-shirts, "at least three jackets," two hats, a pair of gloves, the "thickest socks you'd probably ever find" and boots, and trudged to the train stop in his South Side neighborhood that took him to within a few blocks of the library where he works.
(cont'd)

Wasn't last year the hottest on record, yet the US and UK are now in the grip of such ferociously cold weather that hasn't been experienced in at least two decades? Global warming - HA! 

Yep...the scientists have been predicting these extreme weather events due to man made atmospheric pollution for over 100 yrs.
The change in weather patterns both cold and hot are all due to the warming of the planet and that includes a major driver of the climate..the oceans
A little information not spewed out by ignorant shock jocks and far right inbred nutbags would stand you in better stead when it comes to arguing scientific principles.
100 yrs of scientific research predicted exactly what is occurring

The severe cold, blizzards etc in UK and North America occur precisely because of AGW! Changes in circumpolar winds, in the jetstream etc means the Arctic air can escape southwards.

See the UK Met Office.

Bam wrote on Jan 7^th, 2014 at 6:31pm:



And who gets to determine what a "long period" is?

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 7^th, 2014 at 6:49pm:




And who gets to determine why the current average temperature set and co2 level is the perfect one, why isn't 500ppm co2 and another couple of degrees the perfect weather, and don't tell me its because the models said so, they aren't worth a pinch of sh#t 

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 7^th, 2014 at 6:49pm:


Anybody except you.

progressiveslol wrote on Jan 7^th, 2014 at 8:13pm:


You've played this game before.... 

Is this the North Pole's climate change counterstrike? An icy piece of the Arctic is drifting deep over the United States bringing it the coldest temperatures in decades to more than half the nation





Do you mean to say they had colder temperatures decades ago, well before any global warming

MOTR wrote on Jan 8^th, 2014 at 5:40am:



Very good on knowing the details of what happened after the event....

To be fair, its been a long time since ive seen the Thames flood like this.

Man made global warming is real because? ( insert any answer here, doesn't matter because they are all correct ) 

MOTR wrote on Jan 8^th, 2014 at 7:12am:




I think you'll find they have only been predicting that in hindsight 

MOTR wrote on Jan 8^th, 2014 at 7:17am:

So what you are saying (unwittlingly it seems) is that there were no vortex breaks before 1970 or 1950 or 1900 even.

If there were, then the link to AGW is a crock of shite. Something else causes it. Its the sun stupid

Innocent bystander wrote on Jan 7^th, 2014 at 10:07pm:



No problems.

They'll just change their hypothesis to AGCC (Anthropogenic Global Climate Change).

They have an answer for everything.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 8^th, 2014 at 9:32am:



See:  http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1389081386/29#29

Faith can be a very powerful thing.

MOTR wrote on Jan 8^th, 2014 at 3:17pm:




Start thinking up an excuse for next year.

Quote:

…
Quote:


http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/07/us-polar-vortex-global-warmin...

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2014/01/06/what-is-this-polar-v...

Innocent bystander wrote on Jan 8^th, 2014 at 7:33am:


Well, no.

Arctic ice melt sets stage for severe winters, scientists say

June 5, 2012
By Anne Ju

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2012/06/arctic-ice-melt-sets-stage-cold-weat...


Quote:




Negative Arctic Oscillation conditions are associated with higher pressure in the Arctic and a weakened polar vortex (yellow arrows). A weakened jet stream (black arrows) is characterized by larger-amplitude meanders in its trajectory and a reduction in the wave speed of those meanders.

Quote:

Shock as it's cold and wet here in winter.
That's never happened before you know.

namnugenot wrote on Jan 8^th, 2014 at 8:10pm:


Meteorologists study a very, very “noisy” system. But given the US and especially the UK has been having the very cold winters for several years in a row, given that the jetstream IS behaving oddly lends weight to their conclusions.

The language of scientists, especially meteorologists, is cautious and precise.

It is only little conservative dweebs sitting in front of their computer, no knowledge of climate studies etc can say definitively “The globe is NOT warming” when the trend of average global temperatures is upwards. To “prove” their faith, these dweebs turn to all sorts of cranks, like Andrew Bolt, or posit causes like “It’s the sun, d’uh!” without explaining how the sun is causing AGW.

Read something sensible on the subject:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/07/us-polar-vortex-global-warmin...

As the world warms the amount of water vapor in the increases. Because of this some glaciers in optimum locations are growing while nearly all glaciers are in retreat.

This retreat includes the Himalayan Snowfields. These feed seven of the worlds major rivers including the Ganges, the Yellow River and the Mekong—if they disappear a quarter of the world will starve. Maybe this is why the Chinese government is implementing all sorts of emissions reductions and renewable energy sources—the decline in the flow is probably measurable by now. Campbell Newman is having budgetary problems partly because coal royalties are way down. Seeing a pattern? I wouldn’t invest in any thermal coal project!

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 7:57am:
If there's no such evidence, then bodies of reputable scientists will have said so. Just link to them, greggerypeccary.

You aren't pretending to be better qualified than all those scientists, are you, greggerypeccary? What are your qualifications, greggerypeccary?

# wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 9:30am:



Really?

Can you substantiate that claim?

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 10:28am:


Don’t know much, do you? Scientists are ALWAYS trying to prove each other! Try reading up on the scientific method.

St George of the Garden wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 10:55am:



I'll take that as a 'no' from you.

What about you, #, anything yet?

St George of the Garden wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 10:55am:



Actually they try to DISPROVE each other in the Scientific method. In the Pseudo-Scientific Method on the other hand......

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 6:56am:

Its the pr guy who cant post links yet 

# wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 3:06pm:



Your answer of 'no' has been accepted.

Thank you.

For those who have a brain, the cold snap in US/UK explained:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017168491

# wrote on Jan 9^th, 2014 at 8:35pm:


You know the one that really causes me to laugh every time?

- when they say something like - but water is the most important greenhouse gas - have they taken that into account?

It's a bit like sitting on the dentist chair and saying. When you drill my teeth, it hurts. Have you taken that into account?

No anasthetic for you, Bubba. 

I was reviewing the plans for a major gas project today.  Now that the government is scrapping the carbon tax, this Big Oil company wouldn't be interested in accounting for Greenhouse gases. Right?  Wrong. It's part of their policy.

Not only that, but the plans take into account the effects of climate change over the next 50 years at least.

We're talking about something that is universally accepted by professionals planning for major projects.

muso and # wiped out in a matter of minutes.

My work here is done.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Jan 10^th, 2014 at 7:26pm:



Not good   

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/flood-warnings-remain-place-river-64...

Meanwhile:

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/red-alert-fire-health-warnings...

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 10^th, 2014 at 7:18pm:


Incorrect. This is confidential information, not available to shareholders.

And even more worringly - this is my street which I took last night.....

muso wrote on Jan 10^th, 2014 at 9:57pm:



Oh dear   

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 9:08am:
Which I'm no more qualified to do than you are to interpret climate science.

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 9:08am:
Indeed; greggerypeccary is lying again (a question or demand can be a lie, greggerypeccary, just ask your parents). Another distraction.

Kids should not be buggerised for stockmarket gain!

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 10:52am:
The vast majority of the best qualified say otherwise, it seems, and they're supported by every body of reputable scientists on the planet.

You see, greggerypeccary, asking the question of one who isn't qualified to answer proves nothing except your dishonesty. Your demand for 100% certainty, however, does prove that you know even less than I. Your absolute certainty gives further evidence of your ignorance.

# wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2014 at 8:28pm:

# wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 12:15pm:


If only the "qualified" are entitled to comment  or have an opinion on such matters because on your reasoning others incapable of understanding and you yourself fall into that category then, in your own opinion, as far as science goes you don't know shy it from caviar. 

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 1:33pm:


Fixed. I'm sure you won't mind denying that the Earth orbits around the Sun (not the exact centre of the sun). After all, it's another hypothesis theory that we can demonstrate with roughly similar certainty.

It's only 99% certain!  That's in the same range as AGW (95-99%).

Let's add a few more:

Smoking cigarettes increases the risk of fatal lung cancer.
Dioxins are poisonous.
As an average (say) 90kg man, if you eat 2.4kg of sugar as a single dose within say 15 minutes, you will die. (would you risk that?) *(Actually, see the footnote)

Through the use of radioactive isotopes, we are more than 99 percent sure that much of the carbon in the air has human fingerprints on it. And because of basic physics, we are 99 percent certain that carbon dioxide traps heat in what is called the greenhouse effect.

What brings it down to "95-99%",  is short term natural variation.

* By the way, if you are 90kg and would be happy to consume 2.4kg of sugar, then your chance of dying as a result of that is only 50%.  Would you do it knowing that? What if you were offered $1 million. Would you do it now? a 50% chance of collecting your winnings is much better that a 1-5 % chance isn't it?   What if we increased it to the LD95 concentration - around 4.8kg ? No?

Why not? It's not 100% certain that you will die. There is still a 5% chance that you will survive. And of course, we all know about the worldwide conspiracy of toxicologists. They are scientists after all. Maybe it's more than a 5% chance.

- and then you can find studies that the average Australian consumes 41kg of sugar every year.  At least some of them must eat 2.4kg in a single hit (and survive).

In truth it's all sugary-toxicist propaganda. Sugar provides energy. What would happen if we had zero blood sugar? We'd die, wouldn't we?

- and sugar is all natural. It's nonsense to say that it's dangerous.

muso wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 6:27pm:



You're assuming that radioactive isotopes are infallible.

Using your "logic", I can safely say that through the use of Bill Clinton's evidence, we are more than 99% sure that he never had sexual relations with that woman.

Seriously, do you actually believe the crap that you type in this forum?

Finally, Greggy doesn't like questions along the lines of, "How do you measure a complex system!"

This would lead to questions about the disintegration of system which Greggy cannot allow as he reckons the status quo can't be improved even tho that goes against the whole principle of manufacturing and thus the world we all live in, planet accountants included!

Keep it dark say all the crims of this world.... Infantacide and paedophilia all refer to the same thing: the lie cannot live and thus revolution becomes a word!

Tom Hanks was on Dave Letterman the other day saying there was only one theme!! ...

muso wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:10pm:

Greggy won't entertain systems of measurement as it means improvement of said systems becomes an issue and he can't admit improvement of anything can be realised

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:02pm:



When it comes to AGW, Greg doesn't have a weak spot.

Every single disciple of the Climate Church has come off second best when trying to debate me.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

BatteriesNotIncluded wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:19pm:



Excellent comeback.  No, really.

muso wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:23pm:



How certain are you of the reliability of radioactive isotopes?

What percentage, and why?




(seriously, I can't believe someone can be this stupid)

muso wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:23pm:

Greggy is entertaining that the world around us never relied on no system for measurement: the captains of the world were simply magically born with money and  lol I dunno what he's on about seriously!

Society has an arrogance problem hence 9-11: war is conducted in the economic sphere and the chiefs don't talk but point!

We are not gods like Greggy ya see 

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:26pm:

Greggy is handing out the homework 

muso wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:27pm:

Greggy hates kids: simple as 

greggerypeccary wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 7:29pm:


Nothing is infallible, except the Pope and greggerypeccary, and I'd rate the Pope as more widely accepted as infallible. Of course, you might differ.