Study: Warmer Arctic led to killer cold in Texas, much of US

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

A new study finds that the warming of the Arctic due to climate change has increased the number of polar vortex outbreaks, when frigid air from the far north bathes the central and eastern United States in killer cold. Thursday’s study in the journal Science is the first to show physical connections between climate change and the Valentine’s Week 2021 extreme cold. That freeze hit Texas especially hard, killing more than 170 people and costing more than $20 billion. Scientists say the way the Arctic is weakens the polar vortex that normally traps icy air around the North Pole, allowing it to escape south.