polar vortex

As I am sitting here in my cheery and warm yellow room I can hear the wind howling outside.  It is currently 15 degrees with a windchill of 3.  Now for those people in (and from) the Midwest  and north, this was more than their high temperature was today, but for Virginia this is like being at the North Pole.  Those of us below the Mason Dixon line aren't use to this weather.  We like the occasional dip into the upper twenties, but we aren't use to seeing single digits on the thermometer which we will experience tonight.  In fact, according to the local news, the normal high is 45 and normal low is 25 and the possibility of breaking the record low from 1912 could happen tonight is kind of crazy to think about.  Tomorrow the high is suppose to be in the teens.  I can't wrap my head around this considering at 4 this afternoon I was taking a walk to get some exercise and it was 35 degrees and tomorrow it will be half that.  What makes things even more mind blowing, it is suppose to be close to 60 degrees on Sunday.  I love warm weather, but sometimes the constant up and down of temperatures make adjusting to the cold weather extremely difficult.  I am finally use to mid 30's.  I can take a walk and not get all stiff and miserable and too whiny when I have to step outside.  Well this weekend is going to be warm and all next week it is suppose to be in the 50's which I will enjoy, but at the same time the following week it will probably get cold again and I will have to readjust and be miserable for a couple of days.  The roller coaster of temperatures is also causing havoc on my sinuses.  So back to the polar vortex, it almost seems like something from the movie "The Day After Tomorrow."  When I taught high school, I always showed this to my students before break because it kind of dealt with the topic of climate change and explained how climate change doesn't just bring warm temperatures, it can cause extreme cold because you will only warm up to a point and then plunge into an potential ice age.  Now I don't know exactly what has caused this event and if it can be tied to climate change, or just sensationalized media and weathermen who like to name everything these days.  Regardless, I am hoping and praying the strong winds blowing outside don't knock out our power since our gas logs are still not working and that none of our pipes freeze.  So hopefully we can survive unscathed and enjoy our day home tomorrow since there is no school because you can't risk having the students get frostbitten while standing out at the bus stop.  So tonight I am thankful for a warm home, that I live in an area that this kind of cold only occurs every century, and for indoor plumbing and furnaces, I don't know how people survived the winters centuries ago. I am also thankful for a brisk walk this afternoon that I was able to take by myself, it was quite invigorating and I  look forward to getting out more in a couple of days when everything thaws out.