No end in sight: Here’s how long frigid temperatures will grip North Texas
The worst of the ice and freezing temperatures might be behind us by Tuesday, but the cold weather is expected to linger a while longer due to a shift in the polar vortex core.
In simplified terms, polar vortexes are walls of rotating air that essentially trap cold air around the polar regions.
Sometimes, though, those walls become elongated or collapse altogether, sending that frigid air south into Canada and the U.S.
And that is exactly what’s forecasted for next week and into February, according to analysts with Severe Weather Europe.
According to their models, a high pressure area in the middle stratosphere will push against the polar vortex at the North Pole, forcing the vortex core south. At the same time, two high pressure areas in the lower stratosphere, one to the east and one to the west, could split the polar vortex in two. One of those would be pushed toward Europe and the other toward the U.S.
As a result, colder air is expected to envelop most of the U.S. next week.
Madi Gordon, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Fort Worth, didn’t dispute the Severe Weather Europe forecast, but she said NWS forecasters tend to avoid attributing cold weather to the polar vortex because it’s a complex topic. Still, she agreed we’ll likely see colder than normal temperatures next week and beyond.
“We definitely do have cold weather sticking around,” said Gordon. “In about a week’s time and on the following weekend, the 30th and into early February, we are looking at another period of much below normal temperatures for our area and much of the eastern U.S.”
The Severe Weather Europe forecast says next week could be the coldest one we’ve seen this winter. On the bright side, its forecast models show Texas avoiding the worst of the chill. The coldest air looks to be over the Midwest, the Southeast, the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.
According to Severe Weather Europe, another shift, or even a collapse, of the Polar Vortex is expected in early February as warmer stratospheric air creates high pressure areas that could again affect the Polar Vortex.