Polar Vortex 2024 Michigan 2024. The polar vortex is coming—and raising the odds for intense winter weather. The breaking off of part of the vortex is what defines a polar vortex event.

Observed and forecasted (noaa gefsv12) wind speed in the polar vortex compared to the natural range of variability (faint shading). It forms in late summer, when the polar region starts to lose incoming sunlight as earth’s orbit causes the planet’s axis to be tilted away from the sun.