The culprit is a familiar one: the polar vortex.
Image of the Day Atmosphere Severe Storms
Cold air moving over relatively warm ocean water produced a pattern of clouds that lined up in organized rows.
Image of the Day Atmosphere Water Unique Imagery
Valentine’s Day didn't warm a lot of hearts in the eastern United States.
Atmosphere Heat Land Snow and Ice Temperature Extremes
Large waves in the atmosphere mean that a cold snap in one area is often accompanied by unusual warmth in another.
Image of the Day Heat Land Temperature Extremes
It was cold across the eastern part of North America, but the opposite was true in other parts of the world.
Image of the Day Remote Sensing
Cool air moving across Arctic sea ice gives rise to long parallel bands of cumulus clouds over the Norwegian Sea.
Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Water Unique Imagery Snow and Ice
A convoluted jet stream plunged Europe into a severe cold snap in late January and early February 2012.
Image of the Day Heat Land
In the midst of a sharp cold snap, the Terra satellite captured this image of cloud streets over the Atlantic Ocean.
Image of the Day Atmosphere Temperature Extremes
In December 2013, the same kink in the jet stream brought frigid cold to the continental U.S. and record heat to Alaska.
Image of the Day Land
White-gray haze covers the Ganges Plain of northern India in this true-color image from December 2, 2009.
Atmosphere Dust and Haze
Cloud streets form thousands of feet above the Earth’s surface.
Image of the Day Snow and Ice
The bitter cold of winter settled ferociously over the interior of Asia during the first week of 2006.
Image of the Day Heat Land Life Snow and Ice Temperature Extremes
Winter turned fierce in the opening weeks of 2009, and part of the reason for the cold snaps and winter storms came from big changes in the atmosphere about 20 kilometers above the Earth.
Image of the Day
This cut-away-view of two common weather patterns is providing insight that could improve your weather forecast.
Image of the Day Atmosphere