What is Causing Chicago's Recent Cold Snap? Here's the Atmospheric Phenomenon to Blame
When “sudden stratospheric warming” occurs, the potential exists for that “polar night jet stream” to be disrupted in a big way, and that is what is happening right now. Our normal polar jet stream, the iconic image of sweeping air that you see in every weather report on your daily newscast, has a large ridge in the western portion of North America, which is caused by the jet stream hitting a large land mass. That ridge can extend all the way up the western Canadian coast and into Alaska, and as the “polar night jet stream” is pressed outward by stratospheric warming, it can confl...
Source: nbcchicago.com