By: Willow Handley
An arctic blast swept the United States this past winter as seen in Texas as it reached a low of 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
This kind of weather is uncommon in these regions and raised many concerns for the people who live there. Even though we think of warm weather when we hear the words “climate change”, it getting uncommonly cold is a sign as well.
As stated by the United Nations, Climate Change “refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.”
According to an AP News article, Jennifer Francis, a Woodwell Research Center climate scientist, said “When the arctic is off the-the-charts warm (like Now), we’re more likely to see frigid cold invade places like Texas that are ill- equipped to deal with it”.
Because of this, there were many people harmed and forced to live in unfortunate circumstances. People who live in places like Texas and getting feet of snow didn’t know what to expect and therefore didn’t know how to prepare.
There were also many power outages seen throughout different regions. Many families were forced to spend days without heat and even appliances as they had to wait for power companies to brace the cold and fix the lines.
Climate change is due to the polar vortex becoming unstable more often. According to the National Weather Service, the polar vortex is a “large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding both of the earths poles.”
The polar vortex is always there, it just gets weaker in the summer seasons and stronger in the winter. Because of the winds flowing through the vortex, even in the southern region of the United States, we can feel that cold air even though we aren’t near one of the two poles.
James Reichard, a Geology Professor at Georgia Southern University, explained that the cold air brings the jet stream, a narrow band of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere, out of whack which creates a wave. This is the reason why it gets cold, hot, and then cold again.
Because of this wave effect, it is predicted that another arctic blast will hit the southern regions again sometime in February.
Reichard also said that climate change is becoming more frequent, but scientists are unable to tell how to help it. This is because there is not enough data to review.
In order to see a difference in the data, it takes a 30-year time span. Climate change differs from natural causes, so it is difficult to tell the difference within the data.