Polar vortex to hit the US, bringing freezing cold
Be careful if you go to the United States, you could be faced with extreme temperatures. The National Weather Service (NWS) warns: a polar vortex is going to hit the country.
According to the American meteorological agency, the polar vortex, a large mass of cold air, has experienced an extreme subsidence. Usually present above the Arctic, it has suddenly plunged towards the center and east of the United States.
This is a phenomenon which, as Futura-sciences points out, has had consequences on the jet stream, the high-altitude current that separates warm air from cold air. More than half of the United States was therefore hit by brutal cold this Saturday, January 4. Even southern states such as Louisiana and Texas are facing negative temperatures (up to -10 °C this Monday in Texas).
Faced with a disturbance, this cold air has caused a major snowstorm. Nearly 63 million Americans will suffer the effects. Since Sunday, heavy snowfall has been falling in the eastern half of the country.
The snow will stop during the night from Monday to Tuesday, but the cold air will hold out. The country's weather services are predicting temperatures as low as -18°C in the central plains by midweek.
(MH with AsD - Source: Futura-sciences - Illustration: Unsplash)