Polar Vortex Chills Waverly Down To The Bone
Arick Ames
staff writer
As winter came around the corner, it brought cold temperatures and white snow. It took a crazy turn, taking people by surprise and sweeping them off their feet with its piercing winds. With degrees lower than it has been in the past 30 years, this season broke records.
Polar vortices are storm cyclones that are located at Earth’s poles, and when these storms become distorted, they can spread to other various regions. This year’s vortex got to at least two dozen states in America, to the north and south east. It has been our biggest visitor this winter since Santa, but it didn’t come bearing gifts. Instead it came with an ice-cold reckoning and is to blame for our deep freeze.
Affecting everyone negatively in the areas that the storm hit, many students had a “Cold Day” instead of a snow day. Parents and adults were not able to get to work due to bad road conditions or cars not starting, among other issues. Waverly was one of many schools to call off school Monday Jan. 6 in Nebraska. Superintendent Bill Heimann said due to transportation issues dealing with the buses.
Even after the announcement, many students still were upset and used Twitter to rant.
“But my cars not going to start tomorrow anyways. So I’ll see y’all Tuesday,” senior Brooke Nespor tweeted.
Polar vortices can not only cause schools to close, but it can severely harm people and their way of life. With a count of at least 21 deaths across the country caused by car wrecks or the homeless not being able to seek shelter, the vortex is the newest serial killer.
“The weather was cold enough to take your breath away,” meteorologist Kevin Roth said.
With an astonishing time of only 10 to 15 minutes, someone could get frostbite on any part of their body that was exposed. Let’s just say somebody could almost cut their breathe and build an igloo out of it.
Overall, The best thing one can do in cold weather, is stay inside and bundle up with extra layers when you go outside. Just remember that with cold weather comes warm weather, so just tough it out until the summer.
