goodbye, jet stream

When I woke up yesterday morning in Minneapolis, the cold winter definitely had arrived. The temperature was -22C/-8F air (-34C/-29F wind chill). It's similar today, although we're expecting to warm up tomorrow. This kind of temperature is expected here in January and February. Still not much snow, though, so this cold will penetrate into the uncovered ground, affecting plants and bugs.

Yesterday, I looked here at the wind patterns and temperatures at the north pole. That's the image below on the left. (As always, click the photos to embiggen.) Can you see any jet stream pattern at all? And what's that corridor of relatively warm air blowing directly over the pole? In contrast, I looked here for the same information at the south pole today. That's what a properly structured atmosphere should look like, with the image below on the right.

I mentioned "air curtains" at the equator back in 2012. I don't know much about the equivalent polar patterns, other than the polar cells are the weakest of these atmospheric loops. The difference in these 2 images is so profound, however, that it doesn't require experience to see that something is off. Goodbye, jet stream. It was nice to learn about you while you were still well behaved.

Edit 2024 Jan 16 7am: P.S. On Tuesday morning, this CBC Vancouver news crossed my feeds. In this clip (YouTube), they explain how climate change is affecting the polar vortex. They say that the polar vortex is being disrupted more than usual now, due to climate change.