Snow storms and cold weather will hit New York in January

The rise in temperature in the stratosphere caused a "shift" of the polar vortex, which, according to forecasters, may bring severe frosts and stormy weather to New York in the coming weeks. The details were shared by the edition New York Post.

A polar vortex is a large area of ​​low pressure and cold air that surrounds the north and south poles of the Earth. The National Weather Service noted that it was "extremely robust and reliable" last year and brought a mild winter.

However, this year it is not so strong, it is attacked by large currents of warm air coming from East Asia. They rise to the north and begin to press on the polar vortex, destroying it and pushing cold air south.

Cold air is expected to flow into western Canada, the northern plains and the US Midwest as the vortex breaks down. This will cause temperatures there to fall 15-30 degrees Fahrenheit (about 9ºC) below normal for this time of year at the end of this month. This cold snap will partially affect New York.

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Temperatures are expected to drop 3 degrees Fahrenheit below normal in the last week of January in New York, and 5 degrees below normal in early February for this period of the year.

The north polar vortex has already begun to collapse, but it takes time for the cold air to move south, so a cold snap is expected in New York by the end of the month.

Polar vortex activity can cause storms and hurricanes. One of the winter storms is expected to begin forming over North America on January 12. However, it threatens New York not with snow, but with rain, since it will form much further north.

Sudden warming of the stratosphere, which causes cold air to move out of the polar vortex, occurs on average six times per decade.