According to NOAA’s new Polar Vortex blog, after a brief respite, the stratospheric polar vortex is expected to weaken again with potentially another major sudden stratospheric warming forecast to occur in the next week. But didn’t we just have a sudden stratospheric warming event?? Their blog post discusses how this new weakening of the polar vortex is different from the one we had earlier this winter and what it might mean for our weather into March, since a weaker polar vortex can affect weather patterns for as much as a month after they occur. While two weakenings of the polar vortex in a single winter have happened before, they are rare, especially when they happen so close together, so there are not a lot of analogs to help us predict how it might affect the climate. You can read the blog at https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/polar-vortex/polar-vortex-double-header.
