Metro Detroit residents are finally getting relief after weeks of bitter cold as the polar vortex retreats and warmer temperatures move into the region.
Jaclyn Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township told The Detroit News: “We are actually on the opposite side of it, on the warmer side.”
“So we’re actually going to be well above normal temperatures here through a good portion of the week.”
Earlier this winter, Arctic air pushed temperatures into the single digits across Michigan, with wind chills dropping below zero.
The polar vortex, a large mass of frigid air that typically stays near the Arctic Circle, can sometimes weaken and send cold air south into the United States.
“We’re talking about this Arctic air mass that comes down,” Anderson said.
“It’s essentially just like a pocket of cold Arctic air that breaks off from the flow and then moves down over the region, and everything moves across the world, across the globe. And so, essentially, right now, we’re nowhere in the vicinity of the polar vortex or anything like that.”
There are no signs of another polar vortex in the immediate forecast.
However, cooler air will return by the weekend, with temperatures dipping back into the 30s. Rain is also possible midweek as warmer systems move through the area.
