El Niño gives polar vortex the warm shoulder

The polar vortex has been stronger than average recently, but it has stayed where its name says it should be.

Warm enough for you? Ski areas are getting nervous in the Northeast, a confused southern bird has been spotted in New York City, and Buffalo has yet to see snow, something that hasn’t happened there in December since records began shortly after the Civil War.

So far, in the USA’s weather contest between the warmth of El Niño and the icy cold of the infamous polar vortex, it’s been El Niño in a wipeout.

Record- breaking warmth is possible this weekend for much of the central and eastern U. S., with temperatures predicted to soar as much as 20 to 30 degrees above average from Texas to New England, according to AccuWeather.

The ongoing and strengthening El Niño could keep Arctic air out of much of the USA well into the winter.

El Niño occurs when tropical Pacific Ocean waters are warmer than normal, which can have wide- ranging weather and climate impacts in the USA and around the world.

By one measure, this is the most intense El Niño ever recorded, as November water temperatures in the Pacific were the warmest on record, according to meteorologist Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services.

The strong El Niño has meant a remarkably warm autumn for most of the nation, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday was the warmest ever recorded. Meteorologists define autumn as the months of September, October and November.