The polar vortex hovering over Siberia has generated the coldest temperature on Earth so far this year, and meteorologists say it could head for Canada in early February.
“We’re showing a large area of all of British Columbia, all of the prairies, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and all the way to northwestern Ontario as colder than normal for the month of February,” David Phillips, Environment Canada’s chief meteorologist, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview in Tuesday. “I think it’s a direct result of the dip south of the polar vortex.”
A weather station in Tongulah, Siberia recorded a temperature of -62.4 C on January 14 as a pocket of cold arctic air hovered over northern Russia. For reference, this temperature is only 0.3 C of the average temperature on Mars; cold enough to freeze exposed skin in seconds. This is the lowest temperature recorded in Russia in two decades.
In ideal conditions, Phillips explained, the polar vortices remain over the North and South Poles, held in place by their own powerful rotations and strong polar jet streams that circulate counterclockwise—or westward—around Earth’s upper latitudes to the north and south.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the polar jet separates the polar vortex from warmer, temperate air to the south. When the vortex maintains its shape and remains concentrated over the pole, it is considered a strong vortex. However, sometimes warmer air from the south creeps north over the eddy and sinks down into the eddy from the upper atmosphere, displacing the cold air.
When this happens, the entire vortex can move away from the pole, or parts of it can leak out or break off and drift to lower latitudes—in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Although the polar vortex is concentrated in the stratosphere, Doug Gillum, a meteorologist at The Weather Network, said it tends to bring cold air down into the troposphere wherever it goes.
“It’s well up in the atmosphere, a few kilometers up, but it’s generally associated with the coldest air in the hemisphere,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview Tuesday. “So down where we live, when the polar vortex moves away from the pole, it will often bring cold air with it.”
WHEN COULD THE POLAR VORTEX HIT CANADA?
Right now, Gilham said, the entire vortex has shifted so that most of it is hovering over northern Russia. However, it will probably start moving again around the end of January.
“What we have right now is that the biggest chunk is over Siberia and there’s some record cold air associated with that,” he said.
When cold weather does hit Canada in February, Gillham said it will be because changes in the jet stream are causing the polar vortex to dissipate and re-form over western Canada, replacing the warm air that has settled over the country in recent weeks. weeks.
“We had a powerful jet stream over the North Pacific and it was just flooding almost all of North America with mild Pacific air,” he said.
“The jet stream will change in a way that will stop flooding the continent with mild Pacific air and we will start to see Arctic air draining south.” And so our winter break comes to an end.”
According to The Weather Network, while Western Canada and the prairies can expect cold weather soon, major cities in Eastern Canada are on track to see their warmest winter on record. The Met Office reports that Halifax has had an average temperature of 1.5C so far this winter.
For Southern Ontario and Quebec, Gillham said cold air from the northwest and warm air from the southeast could collide to create some changeable weather as the polar vortex shifts again.
“Being a combat zone means we’re going to get a more active storm track, which means a lot of messy weather systems, the potential for heavy snow, but also the potential for ice and rain.”
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