Despite a week of warmer-than-average temperatures in many parts of the U.S., a familiar face is about to rear its ugly head yet again this winter. You know it as the polar vortex.
"The month of February will end with another trip to the polar vortex — as we see it descending down from the poles and bringing bitterly cold air in." (Via CBS)
"It's back and blasting Arctic air across the nation, plunging much of the country into freezing temperatures." (Via Fox News)
"The polar vortex. Welcome back, buddy. It's been a long time." (Via KSTP)
Yes, the colorfully named weather phenomenon is making a return — and bringing with it more frigid temperatures, and possibly snow across the Midwest and Northeast. (Via NASA)
According to USA Today, this round could bring record low temperatures across the Midwest — dropping temperatures into the single digits in cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit.
As bad as the forecast sounds, though, WLTX reports we're not even getting the whole thing — just part of it.
"What's going to happen is a piece of that is going to break off and head southward and head right into the U.S."
Now if you've forgotten what exactly the polar vortex is — here's a quick reminder from AccuWeather:
"The polar vortex, simply put, is a large, swirling pool of cold located high up in the atmosphere — some tens of thousands of feet."
But Wired reports the return of the Arctic blast might have a silver lining.
"There is so much snowpack on the frozen ground in the central and northeastern U.S. that warm weather and rain could lead to flash floods ... It seems that the expected arrival of the polar vortex next week may be a blessing: The return of freezing temperatures could save the region from the worst of this."
This time, the polar vortex is expected to hang around about a week, until early March. It will reportedly drop in to the Southeastern U.S. later this week.
