ARCTIC POLAR VORTEX ENVELOPEING US AND CANADA IS TEMPORARY by Sonny Jones

* A man clearing the snow is covered in snow in Michigan as the extreme weather bites harder in US and Canada.

The current blizzard of extreme freezing weather that has enveloped North America will be temporary and should be over in the next week, say weather men.

The harsh weather, which whiffs in freezing temperature from the arctic pole to Canada and parts of the United States, termed Arctic Vortex is the worst the region have experienced in 20 years.

According to NASA, the Polar Vortex is a huge persistent area of low pressure that sits over the north Pole and like a jet stream, circles the polar region.

This extreme weather is not peculiar to the North Pole because according to NASA, the "Polar Vortex is a whirling and persistent large area of low pressure, found typically over both north and south poles."

On this occassion, the northern Polar Vortex is pushing southward over western Wisconsin/eastern Minnesota this week and is bringing frigid temperatures to up to half of the continental United States and it is expected to move northward back over Canada toward the end of the week.

* This photo shows an aerial shot of Chicago covered by frozen ice, while the image below shows the build up of the temperature, as it built from the arctics and releases its bursts towards the United States.

In Winter, it builds to such intensity that in normal weather, it releases out bursts of cold air.

This year, it was unsually cold and the stream of jet freezing temperature being released into the atmosphere forces the Mercury to -21 degrees in some places.

* Polar Vortex extending from the Artics.

In fact, US authorities are warning that the vortex can result in frostbites in less than 10 minutes of touching the skin.

NASA said the Arctic Polar Vortex peaks in the Northern Hemisphere's wintertime and "has already moved southward several times this winter". The Polar Vortex also has effects on the Ozone because it has implications for polar ozone loss.

The Space Agency explained further saying "..when the sun rises over Antarctica in August and September, visible radiation provides the energy to drive chlorine and bromine, catalytic reactions that rapidly destroy ozone."

But the situation is not expected to be prolonged and should improve soon giving way to a warmer weather in about a weeks time, when it is expected to move northward back over Canada toward the North Pole.

* Email: sonnyjones332@yahoo.com.

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