2014 is off to an interesting start with a Polar Vortex here in the US, and here’s where my mind goes with that.
Science Fiction?
The first thing that came to mind upon hearing the weather phenomenon called a Polar Vortex was The Day After Tomorrow. (It also kind of made me think of Arctic Blast, but you may not have heard of that one.) I remember there was some talk from the scientific community about how it was all fiction without much basis at all in anything remotely possible. Yeah, I’ll grant that a hurricane like vortex pulling cold air down from the stratosphere or one of those ‘spheres is stretching the fabric of reality, but now with a documented Polar Vortex to reference is it really beyond belief?
Not Exactly Antarctica
North Carolina has always been a richly diverse geographic landscape for me. Living in the Piedmont I can go west to the mountains or east to the beach. Anything more extreme, while exotic, doesn’t interest me quite as much, but I have always had a little fantasy about taking an expedition to Antarctica. I guess, Mother Nature decided to give me a little preview of what that might feel like with temperatures about as cold as one might experience there. As a result, I’ve decided pictures are good enough.
An Ice Age Summer
There isn’t any snow where I am, only slabs of ice here and there where puddles should be. It rained before the Polar Vortex was coined, but Tuesday for all the worry was mostly sunny and very, very cold in my area. It made me wonder if this might have been kind of like summer during the Ice Age. Maybe it got above freezing, but not by much and not for long. What if days like this were the best one could expect? Still freezing, but sunny and clear to hunt for the main ingredient for some Southern style mammoth BBQ?
Reality Frostbites?
This kind of weather isn’t kind to anyone. I mean, it’s so cold it changed an escaped prisoner‘s mind.
I’m grateful to all the efforts being made across the country to help those suffering. I’ve heard of warming stations like the one in Greensboro, and other cities doing what they can to help as many as possible.
I hope pet owners are bringing in their furry friends. Not only is it too cold for them, but they make excellent lap warmers. Bring them in and everybody wins.
No comments yet.