POLAR VORTEX! Poster child for media wars of today!

Typical Hudson Bay Arctic Low Pressure System

So everyone knows it's a very cold winter.  In my personal experience, it's the coldest winter in South Louisiana since my oldest was born in '96.  That seemed like the winter that would never end.  So the natural question is why?  And in today's political driven world the powers that be have jump on a catch phrase "polar vortex" and claim it as proof of their prevailing theory!  The conservatives are pointing to the colder weather and the polar vortex as proof that Al Gore and his global warming alarmist are way off kilter and have no ground to stand on.  The liberals are saying that the wild weather is an effect of global warming and a direct result of no sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.  Both sides are fighting for air time on news outlets to get their side of the polar vortex out.  The White House has even gone as far as putting out a two minute video with it's Presidential adviser on global warming to prove it's view on the polar vortex.  But what is this polar vortex?  And did it really just start happening with global warming?

First, the real name is the circumpolar vortex.  The natural high pressure phenomenon takes place at both poles of the planet.(North and South)   The jet stream wraps the coldest air of our hemisphere up around the North Pole in this circumpolar vortex.  But as you know the jet stream buckles from time to time and brings cold fronts down to the mid latitudes, which is where we live.  Why is the this Winter different?  The jet stream the holds the circumpolar vortex together is much weaker this year.  The coldest air is not wrapped around the Pole, it's elongated with one part stretching all the way down to the deep south of the United States.  This is where the politicians jump in and say it's happening because of their beliefs. (insert belief____here).  Both sides are wrong.  Polar Vortex weaknesses have been happening as far back as 1853.  The global warmers can't claim the lack of sea ice has cause climate change because the term climate in of itself requires decades to prove and weaknesses in the polar vortex have happened every 20 to 30 years over the last 150 or so years.  And those on the other side of the fence can't say one cold winter makes for a colder Earth.  But both sides will try their best to win the argument.

The news media makes it money by getting you worked up enough to keep you coming back for more.  Be that as it may, don't fall for the end of the world insanity headlines.  It's been cold before.  It's snowed before.  There have been killer hurricanes, and deadly heatwaves.  That's not a reason to call for an end to humanity as we know it.  Yes, we do need to be eco-friendly and not pollute our planet.  Mother Nature has her own way of balancing things out.  If you take a little time to stroll through this green planet and stop watching the media circus, you will see the beauty of this thing call Earth.  The fact that most of our fruits and veggies come from flowering plants that depend on a strange little insect (usually a bee) to produce it's bounty should be enough to amaze you.  This incredible place we call home is designed much more intelligently than any of those idiots on the television.  So do yourself a favor and turn off the idiot box and take a step outside and enjoy this beautiful blue marble.  Look a little closer at some things in nature and you just might discover something to believe in without being told to do so.

Home Sweet Home