January 4, 2014, St. Joseph Lighthouse in Benton Harbor
on Lake Michigan west of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Research since 2001
links extreme weather and the Arctic polar vortex of upper-level winds
that normally flow counterclockwise in a low-pressure system over either
Baffin Island or northeast Siberia. But when those winds slow down, it allows
the jet stream to plunge over the United States. In the first week of January 2014,
the jet stream has dipped down to Florida and caused dangerous freezing
temperatures in at least 22 states.
http://www.earthfiles.com/