Left: “Ice builds up along Lake Michigan at North Avenue Beach…in Chicago, Ill., Jan. 6, 2014.” Getty Images via CBS News; Middle: Lake effect clouds and steam rising off of a frozen Lake Michigan in Illinois, NWS; Right: Snow in front of my house during another snow storm that same winter, courtesy of my mother.
In the first days of 2014, Chicago (and much of the northern United States) experienced what came to be known by the public as a polar vortex event, but also referred to as an arctic chill or cold air outbreak, which lasted from January 5-7 (my sister and I’s birthdays!). The coldest day, January 6th, broke the local record for the coldest temperature recorded on that day, last set in 1988, at -14℉. There were 37 consecutive hours of below zero temperatures, as well as between 9.8-20 inches of snow on January 6th in Chicagoland. This polar vortex was part of Chicago experiencing its coldest December-March period since records began in 1872.
Polar vortex is now an often-used term when colloquially referring to extreme winter weather, but the 2014 polar vortex was the first time the media used this term to describe such a winter weather event. Judah Cohen et al. studied how this polar vortex was created by a more uncommon atmospheric event, the stretching of a stratospheric polar vortex, and the redirection of that stratospheric polar vortex over North America, without the same warning signs as a typical polar vortex.
Though we didn’t know the science behind it, my sister and I, freshly 12 and 10 respectively, knew that the icy winds and deep snow were special, and exciting! Home from school at the tail end of winter break, we gazed in wonder at the winter wonderland outside, something that for me never gets old, despite the number of Midwestern winters I have lived through. We kept hearing about how it was so cold outside you couldn’t stay out there for long before getting frostbite, and that having exposed skin was deadly in this weather (okay, maybe our young minds exaggerated a little bit, but not much!). Despite this, our dad, who works from home and so luckily did not have to commute to work during this, insisted that we needed some things from the store, and because the streets were not plowed, we would have to walk there. The walk is not far, as there are many stores near us in our urban neighborhood, but I remember feeling like a daring explorer as we trekked through the snow, covered in winter clothes from head to toe, braving the (very calm at this point) storm.
My family and I were very lucky to have a warm house during this polar vortex, protected from the elements and unaffected by lost power or burst pipes. Unfortunately, 21 people died from the effects of the polar vortex nationwide, 7 of which were in Illinois.
This and other large winter storms live in infamy in Chicagoland, so much so that a classic Chicago trope is reserving your street parking spot using folding chairs, even in several feet of snow.
Very interesting to learn that this was the first time the term "polar vortex" was used, especially since it feels like it's used all the time now. I think the intensity of the cold in Illinois is truly illustrated by that statistic about how 7 of the 21 nationwide deaths (one third!) from this weather event were in Illinois.
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