The Links Between Polar Vortex and Climate Change

FEATURING BRENDA EKWURZEL –  The latest death toll from the frigid temperatures that hit the American Midwest has hit 21. The so-called Polar Vortex plunged large swathes of the nation into double digit below freezing temperatures, breaking multiple records and sending people into emergency rooms for frostbite and hypothermia that kicked in within minutes. In essence people were subjected to temperatures similar to the Arctic.

Just as the one weather extreme was playing out, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued a report that found a massive hole in a major glacier on Antarctica. The Thwaite Glacier has a cavity about two-thirds the size of Manhattan and about 1,000 feet tall, indicating that glacier melting rates are faster than expected.

Displaying his lack of scientific understanding (and poor spelling), President Trump predictably took to Twitter to declare that the Polar Vortex-related low temperatures were antithetical to the reality of global warming (or waming).

Read her article about the Polar Vortex HERE.

Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist and the director of climate science for the Climate & Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.