And how much more of this should those in the United States, especially the Northeast expect? Well it is supposed to be one brutal winter. Not only has there been freezing temperatures but it has been oddly warm during the day, then dropping into the single digits at night. Many are still trying to recover from what many meteorolists call a “weather whiplash.”

According to the records, the recent temperatures are the coldest in decades.

How can global warming make us colder?

The Arctic is rapidly warming, about twice as fast as the rest of the world. The Arctic is losing sea ice, which is being replaced with an open ocean that is warmer. Water collects heat better than ice, and causing the lessening chance of ice formation.

The warmer Arctic is weakening the jet stream that usually keeps the cold Arctic air in the Arctic; that jet stream is also slowing down.

The coldest air in the Northern Hemisphere is usually stuck in the far Northern Arctic by the jet stream. The jet stream barrier is starting to break down causing the air to slip by. With a slower jet stream, there is an increased chance of weather systems to get stuck in their paths. When systems get slowed down they can then intensify. When slowing and intensifying, the temperatures have a chance to plummet and increase snowfall.

The cause of the recent cold temperatures is being referred to as a Polar Vortex, a term for a low-pressure system that circulates from west to east in the Arctic during the winter. About two weeks ago, a high pressure system formed a atmospheric block, that pushed all the cold air down towards the United States.

The effects of global warming may seem far-removed from the students of Hammonton High School; after all, many have been complaining of just how cold it is.  However, this change in atmospheric temperature is currently influencing many weather patterns across the globe.