Have you been looking for your boots or a warm sweater recently in your closet? This may be due to the collapse of two, constant, cold-air cyclones.

These cold-air cyclones are called the Polar Vortex. Cold air is contained in a low-pressure area of 1,000 kilometers in diameter. These vortices are usually located in the upper troposphere and the stratosphere. The constant spinning of the air in a cyclone keeps much of the air from escaping. When the vortex is spinning at a high rate, the winds circling the poles increase; however, when the vortex is slower than normal, cold air will pour out and cause frigid outbreaks.

These vortices tend to be much weaker in the summer and stronger in the winter. The positions of these cyclones also determine the flow across the hemispheres they control. States in the north felt the temperature drop down to 30 degrees below zero with a wind chill making it feel like 60 below!

Andrew Berg likes the cold. He says,  “I like it because it’s a change from the usual Florida heat and you get to wear comfy clothes.”

On the other hand, Trenton Radigan says “I don’t like the cold because I’m used to being warm and the wind makes everything so cold.”

Luckily for most Floridians, the polar vortices have regained much of their speed, restoring the normal temperature in many states across the US. Sarasota should be back to near-perfect temperatures this week.