In the atmospheric layer above it, about 10 to 30 miles up, is the stratospheric polar vortex, where every winter a sunlight-starved Arctic spins up a mass of cold air that, ultimately, dissipates ...

Charlottesville and much of central Virginia were under an extreme heat warning Tuesday, with temperatures predicted to stay ...

As we sweat away the summer, imagine walking out of 98-degree heat and into a 72-degree, climate-controlled ballpark to watch ...

From last winter’s polar vortex to this week’s heat wave, Chicagoans have experienced several degrees of uncomfortableness in a few short months. We weather the extreme weather well enough, thanks to ...

Since the Ice Ages, the Polar Vortex has acted as a climatic gatekeeper. When breached, it unleashes freezing air into ...

Unless society stops pumping more greenhouse gases in the air, “we can expect multiple factors to worsen summer extremes,” a ...

Climate change has tripled the frequency of atmospheric wave events linked to extreme summer weather in the last 75 years and that may explain why long-range computer forecasts keep ...

As the National Weather Service explains, the polar vortex is an area of low pressure and cold air that exists over both of Earth’s poles 10 to 30 miles above the surface.

What does sudden stratospheric warming mean? Sudden stratospheric warming (SSW), refers to the rapid warming – up to about 50C in just a couple of days – high up in the Earth's stratosphere. This ...

Polar vortex is not a synonym for “cold snap,” according to the Polar Vortex Blog at Climate.gov, and it’s not the only weather pattern to blame for blasts of cold air.

WBZ-TV graphic How long does the polar vortex's impact last? A weak vortex allows more arctic air and stormy patterns to develop here in the U.S. A strong one keeps arctic outbreaks at bay.