• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Deadly polar vortex blasts Midwest with coldest air in decades - live updates

GDViking said:
Nah it's not cold, it's exhilarating!!!

I've lived in the north most of my life, parts of Alaska are on average far Warner than where I grew up.

This is just part of life in the beautiful areas...
Click to expand...



I would absolutely love to live in Alaska given the chance but my wife is not very fond of the cold and snow.


I believe some parts of Alaska are as temperate as my area of Nw Pa but my wife wouldn't listen when I tried to explain.
 
GDViking said:
Currently my van won't start and my well is frozen. I have been lazy and not gone out and done anything about that but I have to go out a d get firewood, so I will get to work...
Click to expand...

Had to get a jumpstart to get back home yesterday, that's the coldest I've been in a long time.

Just not going outside today, period.
 
Polar vortex central, here.(Stearns county MN)

Last night was the most brutal cold I have ever felt. At about 8pm the air temperature was -25F and the wind had to have been gusting close to 25 mph. I didn't see what the official wind chill was but it had to be something colder than -50F.

The air temperature was -32F at 7am this morning. It's about -20F right now and this is as warm as it will get. The forecast is for -34F by the time I get up tomorrow.

The funny thing is it's supposed to be +35F by Saturday!

Here's a link to a site that will show you an air temperature forecast map for the next 10 days. Just sweep your cursor across from day 1 to day 10 at the bottom of the map and it will show you how the air temperatures will fluctuate over the next 10 days.

Weather Street: 10-Day Forecast Surface Air Temperature

What really sucks for me(and everyone else who lives in the Minnesota area) is that when you scroll out to day 9 we're right back into the same kind of polar vortex that we're in right now.
 
GDViking said:
Hence the term GLOBAL climate change....
Click to expand...

While we’re having record low maximum temperatures here today, we’ll be having record high minimum temperatures this coming Sunday.
 
JackA said:
It’s not a new low for Arctic air. It’s only a new low here because the Arctic air has come here. Climate change deals in volatile weather. While we freeze, Australia is presently experiencing the highest temperatures ever recorded there.
Click to expand...
Fair point about it not being artic lows

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
trouble13 said:
Not trying to pick a fight with anyone but I am curious how people who believe in awg explain this. If man is warming the planet and responsible for record highs how are we experiencing record lows too?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Because you don't know the difference between weather and climate.
 
trouble13 said:
Not trying to pick a fight with anyone but I am curious how people who believe in awg explain this. If man is warming the planet and responsible for record highs how are we experiencing record lows too?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yes, there will still be winters.

Strawman argument: the world will be a hot desert like Mad Max.

No it'll just be fcked up - with more extreme weather events, worse land, crop failures, water shortages, rising sea levels and other things that the planet will survive, but already threaten our way of life.

The idea that 'Oh it's a winter storm, so there must be no warming' flies in the face of climbing average temperatures every year.

So in short crappy winter conditions and global warming are not mutually exclusive and in fact may be a matter of cause and effect
 
SLC said:
What do you know? You live in Houston its just sticky and hot or raining and hot.
Click to expand...

And you don't seem to know the difference between weather and climate either.
 
Up near Cincinnati tonight...currently 1 degrees, with a forecast low of -10 real temp...looks like idling the truck tonight....brrrrrr...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
trouble13 said:
Fair point about it not being artic lows

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Did you see the meteorological discussion I posted?
 
trouble13 said:
Not trying to pick a fight with anyone but I am curious how people who believe in awg explain this. If man is warming the planet and responsible for record highs how are we experiencing record lows too?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

It's very simple. It's due to the fact the there are thinner ice sheets. Usually, the polar vortex was just one mass over the arctic. However, due to the thinning ice sheets, the vortex got split up into three, which is pushing some of the vortexes further south. So, the warming of the north pole is caused the vortex , whcih is usually singular, to split, and effect a larger area.
 
Is this polar vortex connected to climate change?

It's important to keep an open mind about these phenomenons. Read on...

Hard to say. The cold air is is unusual, but again it's not unprecedented. I think we've seen similar events of similar magnitude that happen maybe once every decade or so. That's part of climate.

The rapid swing from very cold to very warm is a bit unusual. We're going to see 60-degree changes in temperature across the Chicago area in about four days. But linking that directly to climate change is a very difficult task, and usually we wait until after these events occur to try to come up with attributions for these events.

Right now it's a little too early to say exactly why. But the likelihood of this happening in the middle of winter? The odds are in favor of very cold air outbreaks in late January.
Click to expand...

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/30/690034103/why-is-it-so-cold-come-warm-up-in-the-answer-vortex
 
77883bdb74b66a0dd0e6557742a3f3bd.jpg
 
trouble13 said:
Not trying to pick a fight with anyone but I am curious how people who believe in awg explain this. If man is warming the planet and responsible for record highs how are we experiencing record lows too?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Are you really interested in the answer? If so: heat is the engine that drives weather. Global warming doesn't mean that suddenly everywhere is at least 80 degrees all the time--it's still cold toward the poles, especially when they're turned away from the sun (as is now the case for the north pole). When there's an excess of heat in the atmosphere and in the ocean and the crust, it pushes large air masses around more often. In this case, a bunch of warm air--warmer than usual this time of year--pushed up toward the arctic over the Atlantic ocean, and the cold air that was over the arctic was pushed south. The mass that was pushed up was being driven by the abnormal heat for this time of year near the equator. There are other factors (like ice sheets breaking up, and heat in the oceans) that complicate the picture, but that's the general idea.

Global warming means that, on average, temperatures are warmer in most locales. But it also means more extreme weather events, like the one we're having now, will happen more often, as the greater sum of heat in the atmosphere drives air masses to shift around more often.
 
Last edited:
trouble13 said:
Not trying to pick a fight with anyone but I am curious how people who believe in awg explain this. If man is warming the planet and responsible for record highs how are we experiencing record lows too?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

As the climate changes, more extremes are expected worldwide. There will be shifting hot/cold cycles across the globe every year so it is important to look at trends and seasonal variations as well as what part of the planet is experiencing its summer. Look at Australia while the United States is in winter.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/...t/news-story/81a063180acda034caf278bbdd04d1da
 
Its Thursday and -20 , it will be +50 by Sunday, a nice 70 degree rise in temp.

:thumbs:
 
trouble13 said:
Not trying to pick a fight with anyone but I am curious how people who believe in awg explain this. If man is warming the planet and responsible for record highs how are we experiencing record lows too?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to answer you fight, but if you were intellectually curious, why did you not do a simple search....

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earthtalks-global-warming-harsher-winter/
https://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/glo...d-impacts/global-warming-science#.XFKi6sRlC1s
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/question-11/
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/climatescience/atmosphericwarming.html

The simple answer, a warmer atmosphere means more energy in the atmosphere (heat is energy).... more energy means more violence in weather systems.
 
The arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. This causes the jet stream to weaken and swing further south bringing the arctic cold air to the northeastern US.


Warm Arctic means colder, snowier winters in northeastern US, study says

"Warm temperatures in the Arctic cause the jet stream to take these wild swings, and when it swings farther south, that causes cold air to reach farther south. These swings tend to hang around for awhile, so the weather we have in the eastern United States, whether it's cold or warm, tends to stay with us longer."
 
Update for you..its cold as balls outside...
 
Thought I'd give an update after an hour. It's still cold..you are welcome
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom