The words “polar vortex” have been trotted out a lot this winter as waves of cold air and, sometimes, snow and ice have occurred. The polar vortex has been blamed for a lot of this activity. In fact, I saw a Facebook post from a retired Atlanta weather broadcaster that claimed we have had 11 polar vortex events this winter, which shows a lack of understanding of what a polar vortex really is. If you are interested in reading a more detailed explanation for what the polar vortex is and how it has or has not affected our weather this winter, check out the Polar Vortex blog from Climate.gov to see the real scoop on why our winter has been so cold.
