"The vortex changed direction around March 4th," reports Dr. Amy Butler, author of NOAA's Polar Vortex Blog. "It was a substantial reversal, reaching -20.5 m/s a few days ago, which puts it in the top 6 strongest such events since 1979."
© NOAA Climate Gov Data: Waugh et al 2017
"Atmospheric planetary waves have been breaking in the polar stratosphere, increasing its temperature," says Butler. "We call this a 'Sudden Stratospheric Warming' event, and it can cause the vortex to change direction.'"
In recent years, many people have heard the phrase "polar vortex" because of the effect it can have on winter weather. When the polar vortex is strong and stable, it helps confine cold air to polar regions. When the vortex weakens or becomes disturbed, cold air spills out to lower latitudes.
This month's backward vortex has *not* caused an outbreak of winter weather. Instead, it has produced a very strong increase in polar ozone.
© SpaceWeather.comThe red curve shows how polar ozone has skyrocketed in March 2024.
The current 'ozone spike' -- the opposite of an ozone hole -- is the biggest in the month of March since record-keeping began in 1979.
Soon, things could return to normal. The vortex's backward-spin is slowing, and "could become westerly again in about 10 days," says Butler. If so, the ozone spike will subside.
Stay tuned for updates from the stratosphere.
Reader Comments
I might add, an article without mentioning that certain narrative. Refreshing.
If I remember correctly, Ben Davidson often mentions it, or links to it.
When the world was going crazy at the end of the 1960's and into the 1970's with drought and cooling temperatures and Nixon taking the U.S. off of the gold standard there was one thing going on that nobody would talk about; the Beaufort gyre release and the great Salinity Anomaly.
Although the gyre has been studied for decades and we have seen it's 11-year cycle repeat many times, this time it's been almost twenty years since its last substantial release so this release promises to be very large.
Anthony Watts: [Link]
Martin Armstrong: [Link]
Anthony Watts - Collection of Global Cooling articles from early 1970's: [Link]
Something the Western so-called elite was willing to kill 90+% of their own population for.
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Safe Zones and Disaster Zones [Link]