AP cites CCI analysis in report on Arctic blast in U.S.

The Associated Press cited a University of Maine Climate Change Institute analysis in a report looking at what is causing the Arctic blast that has moved south to affect central and eastern United States. Super cold air is normally locked up in the Arctic in the polar vortex, which is a gigantic circular weather pattern around the North Pole, according to the article. “Then when it weakens, it causes like a dam to burst,” and the cold air heads south, according to a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research. While the U.S. has been in the deep freeze, the rest of the globe has been warmer than normal, the article states. The globe as a whole was 0.9 degrees warmer than normal Tuesday and the Arctic was more than 6 degrees warmer than normal, according to CCI’s analysis. Chicago Daily Herald, The Detroit News and Portland Press Herald carried the AP report.