Signs are pointing toward another southward dip from the polar vortex. The polar vortex is essentially a mass of very cold air that usually hangs out above the Arctic Circle and is contained by strong winds.
According to Long Range Expert Mark Paquette, "We noticed a minor Sudden Stratospheric Warming event taking place back on Feb. 6-7, 2014."
When sudden warming takes place high in the atmosphere, it initiates a chain of events that tends to displace the polar vortex between 14 and 30 days later.
"In addition to the exact timing of the cold outbreak is you never know for sure initially which continent the cold air will be directed," Paquette said, "This time it appears it will take aim at the eastern part of North America."
One reason for the cold blast carrying more weight than you might expect is the fact that the Great Lakes are largely frozen over. The air will not moderate to the extent as if most of the lakes were not frozen. In addition, while the amount and extent of snow on the ground will diminish this week, many areas will retain some sort of snow cover.
There is the potential for high temperatures to be in the single digits and teens during a several-day stretch from Chicago to Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, N.Y. Farther south, from St. Louis to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City, highs may wind up in the teens and lower 20s, if the cold air drives forcefully to the south and east.
Further updates on the cold air will follow through this weekend.
According to Senior Meteorologist Bernie Rayno, "For all practical purposes, the upcoming pattern next week will be a continuation of the weather that has occurred during much of the past winter concerning not only temperatures, but also storms."
At times, clipper storms will roll in from western Canada to the Midwest and Northeast. On other occasions, storms will move up from the Gulf coast or develop along the Atlantic Seaboard.
The setup next week may present one to several such Atlantic Coast storms next week in the Sunday to Thursday period.
People along the middle and upper Atlantic coast and the Appalachians to the west should anticipate at least a couple of days of travel delays and disruptions to daily activities.
Like Rayno said, "It will be business as usual for this difficult winter as the familiar pattern resumes."
AccuWeather's long-range meteorologists expect the pattern of lower-than-average temperatures and rather frequent storms to continue over the Upper Midwest to the Northeast next week into the first part of March.
However, there may be a few mild days in between the cold outbreaks. In other words the cold will not likely be as persistent as it was much of the winter, but the colder weather will take its toll on averages.
Video forecast here.
Speaking of those Sudden stratospheric Warming Events that precede the Polar Vortex wreaking havoc:
[Link] and that should tell you everything you could possibly want to know, layman terms, about the SSW.
And this ties it all together as to when the dust transported from the Taklamakan desert is greatest:
[Link] And, oh darn, the colder the climate (Ice Age-wise) the stronger the winds and bigger the particles carried to Greenland to be found in the Ice Cores there.
So, this winters episode of Polar Vortex's is foreboding of exactly where the present Climate is shifting to.
Sure don't look like Global Warming to me.
Take a close gander at the path of that air injected into the Stratosphere that heads for the Pole:
[Link] Cold air sinks, warm air rises. So where does the warm air lose it's heat? Why, over the Arctic, where else? Then it can sink, as it sheds heat, and compress down below. Where's that heat going that is lost over the Arctic? Let me see...
ooh, this is a brain twister.