Above: A Von Karman vortex street downwind of the Canary Island chain in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa on Feb. 27, 2015. Image credit: NASA Worldview. Editor's note ...

Am I going to be buried in snow? As its name implies, the circumpolar vortex is a counterclockwise-spinning (northern hemisphere) swirl of super-cold air in the upper atmosphere that sits atop the ...

But during the winter, it is joined by a second atmospheric phenomenon dubbed the polar vortex. This swirl of frigid air, located more than 10 miles above Earth’s surface, strengthens each year ...

Am I going to be buried in snow? As its name implies, the circumpolar vortex is a counterclockwise-spinning (northern hemisphere) swirl of super-cold air in the upper atmosphere that sits atop the ...

A lobe of the polar vortex will arrive in the United States this weekend, bringing the lowest temperatures in years and snow and ice to the East and Deep South.