Every year, the winter buzzwords start to fly before we set the Thanksgiving table. And who doesn't love feasting on the polar vortex?

Everyone's favorite (or favorite to hate) phenomenon spins up in fall and its strength throughout the season tends to have an influence on whether we shiver or saunter our way through winter. This year, it's getting knocked around early.

NOAA

So, quick vortex refresher. There are actually two of them. Down low, in the layer where our weather happens - the troposphere - we've got what most people simply call the jet stream. That fast river of air steering storms and deciding whether we get a nor'easter or a nice day. The jet stream marks the boundary of the tropospheric polar vortex, with the real deal frigid stuff on the north side of it (in our hemisphe

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