The Polar Vortex is REALLY cool (cold)

Today we talk about the Polar Vortex and how it affects winter here in the US.

The Polar Vortex is really cool

[joef]

Sent this to a friend and he said “That dude looks like a Midwestern version of Tom Holland “

[jehusarmiento]

When I saw that polar vortex concern in January 2021, I had a very strong gut feeling that we would have a nasty winter storm like 2011. Nobody believed until a month later when we were all covered in snow and the power grid collapsed.

[SilverThunder]

That February week was one of the best of my life. No school, but also, a lack of water or electricity outages in my town (or at least neighborhood since we were on the hospital's circuit) and a ton of different wintry conditions to experience from warm comfort or chilly explorations. First and only time I've ever seen over two inches of snow on the ground and seen the thermometer drop below zero. I was kind of shocked when I found out that Atlanta TX had essentially been one of the luckiest towns in the state.

[anne-mariecrawmer]

everybody always asks “what is a polar vortex” but nobody asks “how is a polar vortex” 😔

[entity_]

Usually the hot weather can sustain a couple species of palm trees here in the DFW area. Key word: usually. There were lots of homes in my neighborhood that used to have them, but they all died in the storm. It was definitely weird seeing them all covered in snow. What was *really* wild is the following March, me and my family went to Galveston; on the way there, we noticed Houston had dead/brown palm trees everywhere. I mean, literally, every strip mall; car dealership; suburb; everywhere had a shit load of dead palm trees. Then, as we approached the coast - I'd say starting around Texas City - they started getting green again. Galveston's palms seemed like they did okay, and I have to wonder if the Gulf helped regulate temperatures somewhat during that time.
Now it's one year later and my neighbors have palm trees again XD

[oduvdif]

I would love to see a full episode on the 2021 winter storms! I live in Kentucky and we got absolutely hammered with ice twice in a couple of weeks. I would love to learn about these events. Love your videos! keep it up!

[lifeintornadoalley]

I have footage of that storm. Thankfully SW Oklahoma was alright. Wind-chill was -24ish, 3 days of thunder sleet. Pipes held up until the last day of it. Didn't matter how insulated your home was, the city lines would carry ice to your home causing your pipes to burst. Unlike Texas, we didn't have mandatory blackouts. But we did send our air force base down to Texas during it. They reported due to the mandatory blackouts, people were found frozen to death on their couches. Sad situation and charges should of been filed!
I'm born in buffalo NY, so this was typical to me. I survived the 90s blizzard and my dad survived the 70s blizzard. We're pretty hardened to this. I just hope the Siberian air stays away next time. I don't miss being stuck inside

[ginacerimele]

has anyone considered just building a wall to keep the cold air out

[joem]

I remember the cold day in 2014 in Wisconsin. I had to go to jury duty that somehow was not judges all later canceled 4 hours after I arrived at the courthouse

[nickinportland]

I moved out of Texas but the vortex was crazy. Froze all the pipes in the pool up the hill from my parents house and it drained all the way down.

[Dratchev]

people act like this is something new... its not. 1994 -36 in Indiana, 1983 was another hard cold. etc etc etc remember my grandfather telling me in 94 about some of the cold he has been though in his life time... long story short about every decade it gets miserably cold at some point in winter, and yes even in texas and florida it will get very cold every so often, cold enough to snow in Miami.

[MrJack]

I lived in the dead center of the storm and for the first time we actually had the ground freeze, in most times when it gets cold even when we get snow we rarely get to ground freezing temps. For military terms Texas soil would have been perfect for a tank invasion during the snow storm. Also were able to handle this extreme heatwave of 2023. The Texas grid is well designed for triple digit temps akin to that of a sub-tropical region.

[tiptopdadddy]

That was one of the worst events of my life. Got stuck in Sikeston, MO for 3 days due to an ice storm. Made a dash to Waco when there was a break in the weather. Got snowed in for a week and made it back to Indiana where the weather was relatively mild.

[fctwosw]

if you go back...WAPO's meteorology guy was writing about the split polar vortex a month before what happened down south in 2021...

[malandan]

i was in texas when this happened. our power went out for an entire week. my grandma has severe asthma that is triggered by cold and was lucky to live

[axisboss]

There’s a similar phenomenon that can occur in Europe when polar air from Siberia disrupts the Gulf Stream and typical winter temperatures expected at that latitude like in eastern Germany it getting below -30 can happen.

[kingjulian]

3:53 SAME! omfg New Jersey has the same problem. We're too south to get White Christmases, but *always* get White Valentines Days

[hazmatman]

Feb 10th, 2021
Texas Gov: There’s a concerning Winter Storm arriving in the next few days, are we equipped enough to handle this event?
ERCOT: Uh huh
Texas Gov: Great, we’ll all be ready

Feb 15th, 2021
*powergrid has failed and there’s limited energy*
ERCOT: Duh… Keep conserving your energy so we can continue doing rollouts thingy

[CG_]

Very informative, and also answered a question on what happened December of 2022

[PenguinInguinLodge]

I live in Houston and Ill be the first to tell ya, seeing snow on a palm tree is overrated. Also pretty insignificant when you're stuck in your house with your pain in the a$$ father in law while your wife is in LA on a girls weekend (that lasted a week) and gets to miss the whole thing.