https://phys.org/news/2019-01-frigid-polar-vortex-blasts-global.html > What is causing this topsy-turvy pattern? You guessed it: the polar vortex. > In the past several years, thanks to previous cold waves, the polar vortex has become entrenched in our everyday vocabulary and served as a butt of jokes for late-night TV hosts and politicians. But what is it really? Is it escaping from its usual Arctic haunts more often? And a question that looms large in my work: How does global warming fit into the story?