The polar vortex is essentially a large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of Earth’s poles. It constantly sits over the poles but expands in the winter.

The polar vortex – everyone's favorite wintertime whipping boy – is actually a gigantic, circular area of cold air high up in the atmosphere that typically spins over the North Pole ...

The polar vortex is a broad region of freezing air that lives above the North Pole. It can make for frigid weather when the jet stream, which usually holds it in place, bends and lets that cold ...

A researcher expects the polar vortex to strengthen over the next two weeks. This has a big impact on our day-to-day weather here in the Great Lakes region and even the Northeast. Judah Cohen ...

Disruptions to the polar vortex can cause severe weather in the U.S., such as in 2021 when Louisville, Kentucky saw "an abrupt end to the mostly tranquil weather the region had experienced for ...

The science behind the polar vortex is incredibly complicated, and we've only recently begun to understand how changes at our planet's poles impact weather at more moderate latitudes.

The polar vortex is technically in the stratosphere, the middle layer of Earth's atmosphere. That area of low pressure is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, Furtado said.

We've mentioned the polar vortex several times in recent days. We've said, for instance, that it's "a low pressure system that's usually whirling around the North Pole but has weakened and come ...

The stratospheric polar vortex is smoother, smaller and more circular. It doesn’t exist year-round — instead it’s a whirlpool of frigid air that forms in the fall as the upper atmosphere cools.