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40 photos showing how stupid cold the Polar Vortex was this week

The Polar Vortex – the swirl of super cold air that is normally around the North Pole – broke into three pieces, sending what can only be described as “stupid cold air” (I’m pretty sure that’s the scientific term for it) into the Midwest, and much of Canada this past week.

Though our president doesn’t seem to understand the difference between weather and climate, most rational people are aware that many extreme weather events like the Polar Vortex splitting happen, in part, due to climate change (as we explained a few weeks ago).

Presidential ignorance aside, those of us here in the Midwest saw temperatures as low as -40 C (which, conveniently, is also -40 in Fahrenheit), with wind chills as low as -51 C (-60 F) . It only got down to about -23 C (-10 F), with a wind chill of -40.

As quickly as it seemed to come, the Polar Vortex left us, and here in Indianapolis, we’re going to have a heat wave this weekend with temperatures possibly exceeding 4 C (40 F).

But despite the cold temps we had, some people still managed to make it outside and play around.

These are their stories:

1. Freezing Our Pants Off In Minnesota

gregswan

2. How Cold Is It In The Midwest? Bubbles Are Freezing.

3. Minnesota’s Officers

chisagocountyso

4. “Is Iowa really THAT cold?”

5. Got So Cold Last Night That Our Vodka Froze! For Reference The Freezing Point For Vodka Is -16F (-27C)

KKrilanovichCRE

6. Letting My Car Heat Up During The Polar Vortex

ahhbeeli

7. You Know It’s Cold When The Toilet Paper Is Frozen In The Outhouse

Linda Mooney

8. The Detroit River, Frozen All The Way To Canada

Jay_Z_123

9. We Had A House Fire South Of Cameron Today. Our Chief Mitch Hansen Thought It Was A Splash Park

Bimbo Gifford

10. Frozen Chicken Eggs

afrwvus

11. Going To Daycare When It’s -30 Outside

Stweets19

12. When These Are The Inside Doors… You Know We Are Polar Vortexing

HeidiMiler

13. Eye Lashes On Fleek! Is That A Thing? Is This The New Winter Running Fashion Statement?

mayrenaisamar

14. What Happens When You Blow Bubbles In A Freezing Weather

cbotnyse

15. Current Level Of Snow In Madison: One Whole Mingo

ForwardMSNFC,ForwardMSNFC

16. One Cold Rowdy Dog On The Bulkhead. Still Looking For Leftover Canteen Snacks

gorgonzolabee

17. It’s So Cold In Iowa That We Froze Antifreeze

Stonedspidey

18. Meanwhile In Wisconsin

atlastifoundit

19. It’s So Cold In Chicago They Set Commuter Train Tracks On Fire To Warm Them

metrarai

20. My God. We’ve Reached The Day After Tomorrow

Jacopo_della_Q

21. A Firefighter After Working In The -40° Polar Vortex

crowntownfrown

22. My Sister Opened Her Car Door In Chicago

PerkyMooseTits

23. Trying To Make The Most Of This -40 F Weather

Mapes

24. Lunch In Chicago Today. I Like Mine Al Dente

supercatpuke

25. Meanwhile In Minnesota. The Tank Exploded

David Hildebrand

26. My Brother Was On One Of The Few Flights Into Chicago This Morning. He Took This Photo Of Frozen Lake Michigan From The Plane

DavidPFunk

27. After Two Days Of Freezing Rain, This Mold Came Out

sprgsmnt

28. House Is Freezing From The Inside During The Coldest Day In A Decade

Nayb3n

29. Letting My Car Heat Up During The Polar Vortex

ahhbeeli

30. The Beauty The Cold Brings To South Dakota

chinho321

31. Polar Vortex (Temp. 16 F /-9 C)

ahuewnyc

32. A Sheet Of Ice Formed Between The Glass Panes Of This Door

sadpinata

33. Polar Vortex Lesson: Don’t Try To Hang Dry Your Clothes Outside

eharrisment

34. This Flash-Frozen Fire Hydrant

kasprzee

35. This Door At Work In Minnesota

rmcvey4051

36. I Just Wanted To See How Long It Would Take For An Egg To Freeze Outside And Also What Would Become Of My Egg

Lauren Yapalater

37. My Neighbor’s Furnace Exhaust Is Creating An Interesting Icicle

nonnahinnor

38. [Water] Is Freezing As Soon As It Comes Out Of Our Faucet Because It’s So Cold

mak_savi

39. My Beard Froze While Waiting Bus. I Wish It Would Be Summer Already

Volus_dude

40. It Was So Cold In Chicago That The Paint Came Off My Car

imgur.com

 

 

h/t Bored Panda

Written by Dan Broadbent

Science Enthusiast. Atheist. Lover of cats.

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