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Stratospheric Phenomenon Is Bringing Frigid Cold to U.S
                      
-                              Published: January 21st, 2013 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                 
                      
	
                                               
                                              
                                                                                                             
	
                                By 
Andrew Freedman                             
                             Follow @afreedma                        
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    An unusual event playing out high in the atmosphere above the Arctic  Circle is setting the stage for what could be weeks upon weeks of frigid  cold across wide swaths of the U.S., having already helped to bring  cold and snowy weather to parts of Europe.
                                                                                                                      
                                                                             
	
                                                                                                                                                        Forecast high temperatures on Monday, Jan. 21, from the GFS computer model.
    
Click to enlarge the image. Credit: Weatherbell                                                              
      This phenomenon, known as a “
sudden stratospheric warming event,”  started on Jan. 6, but is something that is just beginning to have an  effect on weather patterns across North America and Europe. 
      While the physics behind sudden stratospheric warming events are  complicated, their implications are not: such events are often  harbingers of colder weather in North America and Eurasia. The ongoing  event favors colder and possibly stormier weather for as long as four to  eight weeks after the event, meaning that after a mild start to the  winter, the rest of this month and February could bring the coldest  weather of the winter season to parts of the U.S., along with a  heightened chance of snow.
      Sudden stratospheric warming events take place in about half of all  Northern Hemisphere winters, and they have been occurring with  increasing frequency during the past decade, 
possibly related to the 
loss of Arctic sea ice due to global warming. 
Arctic sea ice declined to its smallest extent on record in September 2012.
      An Arctic cold front was sliding south from Canada on Friday, getting  ready to clear customs at the border on Saturday and Sunday, bringing an  icy chill to areas from the Plains states through the Mid-Atlantic by  early next week, including what promises to be a chilly second  inauguration for President Obama. Temperatures in Washington on Monday  are expected to hover in the low 30s, only a touch milder than Obama’s  first inauguration, when the temperature was 28°F. 
      Reinforcing shots of cold air are likely to affect the Upper Midwest,  Great Plains and into the East throughout February, with some milder  periods sandwiched in between.
      Sudden stratospheric warming events occur when large atmospheric waves,  known as Rossby waves, extend beyond the troposphere where most weather  occurs, and into the stratosphere. This vertical transport of energy  can set a complex process into motion that leads to the breakdown of the  high altitude cold low pressure area that typically spins above the  North Pole during the winter, which is known as the 
polar vortex.
      The polar vortex plays a major role in determining how much 
Arctic air spills southward  toward the mid-latitudes. When there is a strong polar vortex, cold air  tends to stay bottled up in the Arctic. However, when the vortex  weakens or is disrupted, like a spinning top that suddenly starts  wobbling, it can cause polar air masses to surge south, while the Arctic  experiences milder-than-average temperatures. 
      During the ongoing stratospheric warming event, the polar vortex split  in two, allowing polar air to spill out from the Arctic, as if a  refrigerator door were suddenly opened.
      
	
	
	
		
		
		
		
	
	
		
	 
An  animation showing the evolution of the stratospheric warming event. The  contours show absolute heights and the shading are height anomalies in  the middle stratosphere, or about 16 miles above the surface. The height  anomalies are a good proxy for temperature anomalies in the  stratosphere with red representing high heights or warm temperatures and  blue low heights or cold temperatures. You can see at the beginning of  the loop a cohesive polar vortex along the coast of Northern Eurasia and  then this area of higher heights or warm temperaturs rush poleward from  Siberia into the polar vortex splitting it into two pieces, one over  Eurasia and one over North America. The dramatic rise in heights or  temperatures over the Pole is the sudden stratospheric warming. The  result is that pieces of the polar vortex move equatorward and with it  the associated cold temperatures. Usually something similar occurs in  the troposphere in the ensuing weeks. Credit: AER/Justin Jones.
      When the sudden stratospheric warming event began in early January,  that signaled to weather forecasters that a cool down was more likely to  occur by the end of the month, since it usually takes many days for  developments in the stratosphere to affect weather in the troposphere,  and vice versa.
      “For reasons I don’t  think we fully understand, the changes in the circulation that happen in  the stratosphere [can] descend down all the way to the Earth’s  surface,” said Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting at 
Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) in Massachusetts.
      As the polar  stratosphere warms, high pressure builds over the Arctic, causing the  polar jet stream to weaken. At the same time, the midlatitude jet stream  strengthens, while also 
becoming wavier, with 
deeper troughs and ridges  corresponding to more intense storms and high pressure areas. In fact,  sudden stratospheric warming events even make so-called “blocked”  weather patterns more likely to occur, which tilts the odds in favor of  the development of winter storms in the U.S. and Europe.
      Cohen was the lead author of a 
2009 study that  found that sudden stratospheric warming events are becoming more  frequent, a trend that may be related to an increase in fall snow cover  across Eurasia. The increase in snow cover has in turn been tied to the  rapid loss of Arctic sea ice, since the increase in open water in the  fall means that there is more atmospheric moisture available to fall as  rain or snow.
      Cohen and his colleagues at AER have been 
using an index of Eurasian snow cover during  the month of October in order to make seasonal weather forecasts for  the following winter, and he said that by using this technique, they  successfully predicted the ongoing stratospheric warming event 30-days  in advance.
      “As far as I know this is a first and has huge implications for intraseasonal predictions,” he said.
                                                                                                                      
                                                                             
	
                                                                                                                                                        Computer model forecast for February, showing widespread cooler than average conditions in much of the U.S.
    
Click to enlarge the image. Credit: Weatherbell.                                                              
      Cohen’s research has  also pointed to stratospheric warming events as one of the reasons why  the second half of recent winters in the Northern Hemisphere have turned  out to be colder than the first half.
      “Scientists about a  decade ago predicted that stratospheric warmings would become less  frequent with climate change, however, just the opposite has happened  and they have become more frequent. There is a positive trend in  stratospheric warmings since the turn of the century and I have argued  this is contributing to more severe winters,” he said.
      When the vortex becomes dislodged from the pole, Cohen said, it can  lead to a flow of air that is more north to south than west to east. “So  when the warm air rushes the pole it displaces the cold air over the  pole and forces it equatorward,” Cohen said.
      This has major implications for U.S. winter weather. 
      High temperatures in  North Dakota and Minnesota may not make it above zero Fahrenheit on  Sunday and Monday. If Minneapolis records a high temperature below zero  it will end its record-breaking streak of four years without such an  occurrence. By Tuesday, the cold air will have spilled into Kentucky and  Maryland as well as New England. And the long-range outlooks suggest  that February is going to be a colder-than-average month from the Upper  Midwest to the East Coast, although there may be brief breaks from the  cold depending on the prevailing storm track.
      Anthony Artusa, a seasonal climate forecaster at the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),  said the cold air spilling southward for the inauguration may mark the  beginning of a long-lasting cold period that is related to the  stratospheric warming event. “It does look like this could be the early  effects of it,” he said during a conference call with reporters on  Thursday.
What is a Polar Stratospheric Warming?
                             A stratospheric sudden warming is perhaps one of the most radical changes           of weather that is observed on our planet. Within the space of a week,           North Pole temperatures can increase by more than 50 K (90°F).           For example, on 17 January 2009 the temperature at the North Pole near 30           km was about 200 K. Over a 5-day period, the temperature increased to           260 K (a change of 60 K or 108°F).         
                             These stratospheric sudden warmings are caused by atmospheric waves that           originate in the troposphere. The waves are forced by the large-scale           mountain systems of the northern hemisphere and the land-sea contrasts           between the continents and oceans. The waves are also characterized by           their very large scales, typically referred to as planetary-scale waves.            The stratospheric wind structure filters the smaller scale waves, only           allowing the planetary waves to propagate into the stratosphere. As the           waves move upward into the stratosphere they have two effects: first they           will often push the 
polar vortex           away from the North Pole—bringing warmer midlatitude air           poleward, and second, they produce a downward motion field that also           warms the polar region.           
                             
	
	
	
		
		
		
		
	
	
                                   Northern hemisphere total ozone, potential vorticity on the 460 K             potential temperature surface, and temperature on the 50 hPa pressure             surface for 13 and 20 February 1989. This day is an example of a sudden             stratospheric warming.            
                    
                              An example of a stratospheric warming is shown above. The top row of           images are for 13 February 1989. The PV image indicates an elongated           polar vortex (top middle image), while polar temperatures are relatively           cold (top right) and total ozone is relatively low (top left). A week           later on 20 February 1989, the polar vortex has split into two separate           parts (bottom middle). This is known as a wave-2 pattern, since there are           two high and two low centers. Note that the temperature (bottom right)           and total column ozone (bottom left) have considerably increased at the           pole. Other events are associated with a wave-1 pattern, where the vortex           is displaced off the pole. This 
results in one side of the hemisphere           having a relative high, while the other side has a relative low.          
                             The most dramatic stratospheric sudden warmings are known as major           warmings. During a major warming, at about 30 km the normal cold polar           and warm midlatitude gradient is reversed and the west-to-east polar           night jet reverses to an east-to-west flow. Sudden warmings are always           characterized by large-scale, large-amplitude wave events. While major           warmings only occur every other winter or so, wave events of weaker           amplitude occur frequently during the winter season. All of these wave           events act to warm and increase ozone levels in the polar region           generally in proportion to their amplitude. The waves also act to strip           off streamers of the polar vortex (similar to the cutting of a lathe).            The waves cumulatively act to keep the polar region much warmer and ozone           much higher during the winter than would occur in their absence.           
                             The final warming is the last stratospheric warming of the season. After           this warming, the stratosphere never recovers to its previous state and           the 
vortex breaks up and           dissipates. The final warming often occurs in March or April. Sometimes           the stratosphere never recovers from what would otherwise be a mid-winter           major warming in January or February, and that warming becomes the final           warming.