The polar vortex returns, bringing near-record cold temperatures

My readers are talking to me via their clicks today, as the entries they're reading today emphasize how cold it is, including Fantasy and reality of snow days in Michigan, which I tweeted out two days ago, but also It's freezing, so here's a song from 'Frozen', Frozen great lakes, and It's 'Frozen' out there.  Even the entries about animals that my readers are picking are about cold weather.  Bald Eagles in Monroe Michigan shows how our national bird takes refuge from winter weather and Amur Leopards: student sustainability video festival 36 describes an endangered species living in a cold climate.  Since my readers want to see entries about the cold, I'll oblige them with a post about the Polar Vortex.

I begin with USA Today's The polar vortex, explained.

Temperatures in the Midwest are nearing all-time record lows as a powerful polar vortex drives a deep freeze across the eastern half of the United States. The bitter cold will bring below-zero temperatures to a quarter of the continental USA. In fact, it is predicted that Chicago will be colder than Antar[c]tica, Siberia, and Mount Everest.

Extreme cold, big snowstorms - and even unwelcome invasions from the polar vortex - will continue to hit the U.S., even as humans continue to warm the planet.

As he has several times in the past, President Trump again tweeted about global warming during a cold snap: Late Monday, he tweeted that "in the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded...What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!"

However, no matter how much humans have warmed the planet, we still didn't kill winter: Trump's own federal agency - the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - corrected the president on Tuesday, noting that "winter storms don't prove that global warming isn't happening."

For more explanations I've posted on this blog, I recommend my readers click on Polar vortex and difference between climate and weather explained from 2014 and Vox explains how a warming Arctic can cause extreme weather.  The latter may not mention the polar vortex by name, but it certainly explains extreme swings in temperature from a wobbling jet stream.

Speaking of extreme swings in weather, CBS News mentions an 80-degree rise in temperatures from today to Sunday in Dangerous polar vortex sweeps Midwestern states.

A dangerous polar vortex is sweeping across the midwest, with some areas experiencing colder temperatures than the Arctic circle or South Pole. CBS News contributing meteorologist Jeff Berardelli joins CBSN to discuss the latest forecast.

Because of climate change, the planet is once again experiencing chills and fever.

For all my readers experiencing the polar vortex, stay warm and remember that milder temperatures are coming soon.