Record Low High for Tuesday November 18; So Is This Polar Vortex Weak or Strong?

The official high for Tuesday, November 18, 2014 only reached 18°F at O’Hare International Airport. The hourly high of 18°F was hit twice on Tuesday — at 1:51 p.m. and 9:51 p.m. The air temperature then rose after midnight for today — hitting 19°F at 3:51 a.m.

The official high of 18°F marked a record low maximum or record low high for the day. The new record beat the old record by 4°F. Previously the record low maximum temperature was 22°F recorded on November 18, 1903.

Then yesterday morning, on Wednesday, a new record for the greatest consecutive hours of sub-freezing temperatures in the month of November was broken at 5:00 a.m. when 172 hours was surpassed. The temperature reached freezing (32°F) at the 11:51 a.m. reading at O’Hare International Airport today for a record 179 consecutive hours.

Global warming advocates claim the weather over the United States is colder while the average temperature in other parts of the world are warmer. They claim an unstable polar vortex occurred during the U.S. winter seasons of 2009/2010, 2010/2011, and 2012/2013. They say the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) was in a negative mode, which caused colder winters in the United States and warmer temperatures in northern Canada and Alaska. Cold weather was allowed to break free from the polar region because of a weakened barometric pressure “fence” but during the 2011/2012 winter there was a shift in the jet stream that kept the cold weather and the jet stream border north of New England, the Great Lakes and parts of the Great Plains. The 2011/2012 winter was the fourth warmest U.S. winter on record.

Scientists claim the lack of Arctic sea ice can destabilize the polar vortex, which is “typically” trapped in a tight loop with lower barometric pressure. The polar vortex is actually a large-scale cyclone that normally circulates over the north pole. There is also a polar vortex at the south pole. Scientists claim global warming causes the barometric pressure to rise in the polar vortex region and overcome the external high pressure that normally contains the polar vortex near the north pole. Ironically the polar vortex is classified as weaker when it causes cold outbreaks in the mid-latitudes, but the classification makes sense when you realize that a strong polar vortex is a strong low pressure concentration that exists in the polar region and keeps the cold at the north pole with stronger west-to-east winds near the north pole. Some scientists are skeptical about the connection between Arctic warming and a wavy jet stream with a polar vortex breakout. The skeptics say there is not enough data to conclude causation — only correlation.

Some weather and climate scientists also point to the effect of the oceans and El Niño Southern oscillation values on cold weather likely bring a cold winter for 2013/2014. Meteorologist Joe Bastardi is reporting that Surface Skin Temperature is very similar to the Winter of 1976/1977. Former Accuweather meteorologist Bastardi is one meteorologist who points out the media bias favoring global warming. He emphasizes the earth is doing what it always does — goes through cycles of warm and cold. Below his tweets chide Accuweather for emphasizing the warmup before Thanksgiving while failing to mention cold returning after Thanksgiving.

See also …
Climate.gov Wobbly polar vortex triggers extreme cold air outbreak

ChicagoWeatherStation.com CHICAGO RECORDS …

Get updates from The Cardinal ALL NEWS FEEDS on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts and sub-category posts from The Cardinal — Arlingtoncardinal.com. You can also limit feeds to specific categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …