During the winter, the winds that make up the polar vortex blow from west to east. In spring, as Earth's tilt changes and the North Pole receives more sunlight, the direction of the winds changes to ...

For a bit of context: the polar vortex is a swirling mass of cold, low-pressure air that forms high above both of Earth’s poles. Over the Arctic, it spins counterclockwise in the stratosphere, about ...

Professor Amanda Maycock from the School of Earth and Environment, who led the project, added, "The stormy conditions and strong stratospheric polar vortex during February 2022 bare parallels to ...

A sudden stratospheric warming event reversed the winds that make up the northern polar vortex on March 9. A new animation shows the vortex also moved away from the Arctic towards Europe.