Extreme weather events have been seen across the globe as we approach the year's end and many were seen just a few days ago causing major disruption in the form of rain, snow and biting cold conditions.
Polar Vortex is usually seen in the higher latitudes of both the North Pole or South Pole. These are usually a stable phenomena. However, whenever they interact with a weather disturbance or disturbed weather pattern they cause arctic blast bringing very cold air from polar latitude to even middle latitudes. Polar Vortex is beyond 10 km height and is seen in the stratosphere, remaining there itself. The flow of the polar vortex during a disturbance finds a leakage and trickles down to the mid-latitudes, causing extreme cold. Northern Indian hills that have been experiencing extremely cold conditions are partly attributed to Polar Vortex.
A bomb Cyclone is when there is a steep pressure fall of 24 millibars in 24 hours where cyclogenesis takes place. It is associated with strong winds, extreme cold and a lot of snow being dumped.
The United States has been witnessing the effects of Bomb Cyclone and Polar Vortex, and has seen enough disruptions. In fact, the effect of bomb cyclone has also been seen up to the borders of Mexico. Strong blizzard and winds resulted in around 50 people, who could not rescued. Most fatalities occurred due to people being stuck in their cars, not being able to. Several flights have been cancelled which was around 1700 in one day across the United States. These ferocious conditions caused a lot of chaos during Christmas.
Another freak weather event took place in Jordan wherein flash floods were seen. The region called Petra has been affected which is a desert city. It is flocked with tourists due to archaeological attractions. Due to the flash floods, 1700 tourists were stranded as heavy rains poured down the mountain city. Warning was issued for unsafe weather conditions over the Dead Sea and the city of Aqaba.
As far as India is concerned, sudden cold made an appearance over North Indian hills and plains. It started after December 20 and occurred due to 2-3 factors. Normally, extreme cold is followed by snowfall activity in the hills and rainfall in the plains and in the wake of Western Disturbance. However, there has been know weather instance as such and we haven't seen any strong western disturbance yet. Moreover, the extreme cold conditions in north India are also attributed to other weather events across the globe. In fact, the Arctic Blast as well as the Polar Vortex also affected the weather conditions over North India. Now, little weather conditions are expected as a fresh Western Disturbance will approach giving way to better weather conditions.