UPDATED
Oh, and by the way, please note that 2013 was the hottest year Australia has ever endured, since records began.
Begins …
Air temperatures varied by more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit across the United States Monday morning. A blast of Arctic air pushing south as far as Atlanta has caused air temperatures across the United States to plunge, creating a massive 140-degree Fahrenheit (77 degrees Celsius) temperature difference between the chilly Dakotas and balmy Florida yesterday (Jan. 5).
The pulse of frigid air, called a polar vortex, whirled into the United States this weekend on the heels of a major winter storm. But unlike that storm, the polar vortex won’t bring heavy snowfall. (The snowstorm dropped nearly 2 feet, or 60 centimeters, of snow in Boston last week.) Instead, the National Weather Service is forecasting dangerous cold and wind-chills. The cold temperatures are expected to last through Wednesday.
The polar vortex is a low-pressure system that circulates from west to east in the Arctic during winter. Late last week, a high-pressure system — called an atmospheric block — situated over northeastern Canada and Greenland stopped this circulation pattern, pushing the cold air into the United States. On Sunday afternoon, temperatures ranged from minus 55 F to 85 F (minus 48 C to 29 C).
On Monday morning, air temperatures in North Dakota and South Florida were still more than 100 F apart. Chicago set a new record low of minus 16 F (minus 27 C) Monday morning, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, broke a 102-year record with a new low of minus 1 F (minus 18 C) recorded at 7:14 a.m. local time, the NWS said.
Climate change scientists labour to explain to skeptics that global warming can produce extremes of cold, wind and rain as well as hotter zones. For some reason, this simple fact seems to elude numbers of climate change deniers … many of whom are funded by high polluting industries, such as oil, coal, and others. Other blogs such as the Raw Story have noticed what looks awfully like a co-ordinated conservative howl of trolling on the topic.
Our answer to that? We can do no better than this twitterer …
Well, This Is What I Think 
Forgive me, but I find this post a bit confusing. The graphics and information up to the quote under the storm image from Scotland clearly refer to events of a year ago, December 2012 – January 2013. But then the next paragraph is written in future tense, as if it is describing current conditions. The graphic labeled “Wavewatch III Model” gives month and day but no year. Has a transitional statement or paragraph inadvertently been dropped? Is the end of the post talking about right now, or continuing to describe what happened last year? Thanks for any clarification you can provide.
LikeLike
Marian I will check the original and seek to clarify.
LikeLike
Marian, that’s a good pick up. I erroneously copied the article from another source which had also not noticed that it was a year old. Interestingly, however, this updated article shows that a very similar effect is occuring this year.
LikeLike
I am amazed and delighted that my comment on atheism/agnosticism made it through the firewalls. It encourages me to try again with this link to some stunning photos of the polar vortex:
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/01/incredible-photos-polar-vortex
LikeLike
Wow – amazing shots, thank you! Keep warm!
LikeLike