The Arctic Vortex

 In today’s weather review, (2026-11-06) I took a look at my normal weather apps, and as normal for this time of the year, but the weather boys are telling me that the Polar Vortex is not doing what it should for this time of the year.

So I took a look at the earth Nullschool weather app (I have set up the view for you) and took a look at the the top down view of the artic at high level, and its clear whats happened, there is a high moving into the region and its managed to split the normal low, a left spinning rotation of air, into two, and its shoving these two lows out.

If we take a look at the lower levels of air, were the jet stream lives, we can see the effects of the split and how the air mass is moving. 

A high over Norway is circulating the air drawing in a stream of air from a low just south of Norway, its a complex little picture, but its giving the UK a lot of cloud and a little rain.

Is this important to the Architectural Technologist, well yes, it’s a reminder as to the power of the weather, but more importantly, the direction of the winter weather.

We normally see the weather coming in from the South West, with the odd blast fron the east,  but today half of southern England is seeing it come in from the North west and the east coast of the whole of the UK is seeing a southerly direction feeding from the low south of Greenland. The Arctic Vortex is of particular interest, and its normal action is being modified by what is happening in the pacific. hence the split in the normal patern and the nock on effect to the UK and else where.

A site manager looking at this would need to make a choice on continuing the site or shutting down for the day, depending on what works are underway. Maybe he’s lucky and all he needs to do is continue internal work, and just make sure access to the site is maintained. and his building kept dry internally.

The actions of climate change, the warming of the planet, and El Niño action in the pacific are quite rightly being looked at as the source of the high causing the split of the Artic Vortex. Its no simple answer as the problem, the relationships are complex, but I watch. For me its just interest, for a site manager its money, and safety on site. For students it’s not a subject you might think part of being an Architectural Technologist, but believe me its the battle front, we detail so often the tackle the weather.

The best part is, the Earth Null School is free, I have included the link for your browser, but its also available as an app, Google or Apple, there’s a number of filters and many different languages, the only problem, its addictive.