What is Polar Vortex

Sources: Google images

Polar Vortex, recently known to grip a larger part of United States,is a system of dense air which produces low temperature and an envelope of freezing weather which would bring a complete halt to the portion of earth it envelopes and thus a state of chaos to the rest.

A polar vortex, also referred as polar cyclone is a large scale cyclone that locates near the geographical poles. Thus on earth, Polar vortices can be found located near the upper troposphere, middle troposphere and stratosphere. The polar vortex surrounds the polar highs and lies in the wake of polar fronts. The winters strengthen these cold core areas whereas the summers waken them due to the temperature differential between the equator and poles. The polar vortices traverse in counter clockwise fashion in the northern hemisphere less than 1000 km.

The polar vortex is considered to be dangerous because the envelope of freezing, dense air can cause serious health risk, may even be sometimes life threatening by causing damage including liver disease, leukemia etc. Physical labor in such conditions can also be dangerous as extreme cold conditions can make it impossible to sweat and effectively insulate heat. People can die by freezing to death, car crashes on icy roads or due to risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.