The bitter cold temperatures that have left a chill over the eastern half of the country aren’t going anywhere, as a major disruption to the polar vortex is coming this month.
While the cold is not new, the polar vortex’s pattern was different.
The cold ushered in late January was caused by the vortex remaining strong but displaced over Canada, sending extreme cold into the U.S.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, this disruption to the polar vortex will take the form of a Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event (SSWE), which occurs when temperatures high in the atmosphere rise rapidly, weakening or even breaking apart the winds that normally confine cold air near the North Pole.
When this happens, the polar vortex can split or shift, allowing frigid Arctic air to spill south into the eastern U.S.
This bout of frigid air will reach the east more often than the last round as the polar vortex weakens, the FOX Forecast Center said.
Energy companies across the South are asking Americans to conserve energy during high peak usage windows as the prolonged arctic blast tightens its grip on the nation.
The Climate Prediction Center’s February Temperature Outlook also concurs, showing high confidence for below-average temperatures for the month.
If this forecast holds, the combination of a cold January and this pattern could produce one of the coldest winters in years for much of the region, which is all tied back to the weakened polar vortex.
Below-average temperatures are very likely across the Great Lakes, the Northeast, and even the Southeast.
Temperatures in the West will remain warmer than average for the month.
Reflecting on January
January delivered a wild ride of weather, from the extreme cold across the country, even stretching into Florida.
Below-average temperatures left cold-stunned iguanas across the Sunshine State, breaking record lows set decades ago.
The month brought a major winter storm that caused millions to lose power and dropped feet of snow and inches of ice from the Midwest to the Southeast.
Nearly 80 people died from the storm across at least 16 states.
Finally, we finished the first month of 2026 with an intense and powerful nor’easter storm that walloped the Southeast, bringing heavy snow to the Carolinas and Virginia.
Historic snowfall was recorded in both North and South Carolina.
The storm lashed the beaches of the Outer Banks, causing an abandoned beach house in Buxton to collapse into the ocean during hurricane-force winds and large waves.
The nor’easter continued its trek up the East Coast on the first day of February, preparing to brush Massachusetts and southern New England with snow, more winds amid the extreme cold.
