Polar vortex brings Mars-like cold to Russia, could hit Canada next: meteorologists
CTV
The polar vortex hovering over Siberia has generated the coldest temperature on Earth so far this year, and according to meteorologists, it could be headed to Canada next.
The polar vortex hovering over Siberia has generated the coldest temperature on Earth so far this year, and according to meteorologists, it could be headed to Canada in early February.
"We're showing a large area from all of British Columbia, all of the Prairies, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and right through to Northwestern Ontario as being colder than normal for the month of February," David Phillips, Environment Canada's chief meteorologist, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview Tuesday. "I think that is a direct result of the diving down southward of the polar vortex."
A weather station in Tongulakh, Siberia recorded a temperature of -62.4 C on Jan. 14 as a pocket of frigid arctic air hovered over northern Russia. For reference, that temperature is only 0.3 C from the average temperature on Mars; cold enough to freeze exposed skin in seconds. It's the coldest temperature Russia has recorded in two decades.
In ideal conditions, Phillips explained, the polar vortices stay over the North and South Poles, held in place by their own powerful rotations and strong polar jet streams that circulate counterclockwise – or west – around the Earth's upper latitudes to the north and south.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the polar jet separates the polar vortex from warmer, temperate air to the south. When the vortex holds its shape and stays concentrated over the pole, it is considered a strong vortex. However, sometimes warmer air from the south creeps north over the vortex, and dips down into the vortex from higher in the atmosphere, displacing the cold air.
When this happens, the entire vortex can shift off of the pole, or parts of it can leak or break off and drift into the lower latitudes – into Europe, North America and Asia.
Although the polar vortex is concentrated in the stratosphere, Doug Gillham, meteorologist at The Weather Network, said it tends to bring cold air down to the troposphere wherever it goes.
