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In 2014, the term \u201cpolar vortex\u201d burst on the scene across Canada and the U.S. as temperatures plunged<\/a>. In some places, it was colder than it was on Mars<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Well, get ready to hear more about it. Forecasters say parts of Western and Central Canada are about to feel the effects of the phenomenon that brings frigid weather in the coming weeks. And it could move to Eastern Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cThe European [model], the latest one, is looking like a pretty impressive cold pattern setting up,\u201d said Judah Cohen, a climatologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).<\/p>\n \u201cThe cold is going to slide down east of the Rockies \u2026 you’ll hear about Calgary, definitely Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the term became popular a decade ago, the fact is, a polar vortex is always around. It\u2019s just that usually, it remains high in the north. <\/p>\n A polar vortex sits in the upper atmosphere, specifically in the stratosphere. If it\u2019s stable, that\u2019s where it remains. However, every once in a while in winter, it destabilizes and meanders farther south, bringing cold air to lower latitudes. It interacts with the jet stream in the troposphere, basically, where we humans live, and that\u2019s what brings the colder-than-normal temperatures.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce every two years there is a disruption of the polar vertex. So you get very strong warming like tens of degrees Celsius in a few days, which is associated with a breakup or stretching or disruption of these winds,\u201d said Michael Sigmond, a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).<\/p>\n Not all polar vortexes are the same, Cohen explained.<\/p>\n One is called sudden stratospheric warming, where there is extreme warming in the upper atmosphere, roughly 30 kilometres above Earth. That disrupts the flow and brings it south.<\/p>\n \u201cSudden stratospheric warming gets everybody the most excited,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cIt can have a big impact, not because of so much as the intensity, but its long duration.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are polar vortexes that split, and ones that just kind of stretch down over the south.<\/p>\n So which one is this?<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763987109_360_default.jpg\")
An illustration of what happens when the polar vortex is disrupted. Typically, as seen at left, it stays some 15 to 50 km above the surface and remains in the Arctic. But when it weakens, as seen on the right, it can get disrupted, interacting with winds closer to the surface and bringing cold air to lower latitudes. (NOAA)Different kinds of polar vortexes<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763987109_785_default.jpg\")
The U.S. side of Niagara Falls is shown beginning to thaw after the early January 2014 polar vortex event. (Nick LoVerde\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n