Temperatures plunged into the teens and single digits in some spots, and the snow-dusted winds are driving the wind chill below zero. The polar vortex, a swirling mass of Arctic air typically contained over the North Pole, has pushed south, driving bone-chilling temperatures into the eastern United States.

The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes plunges south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such cold air outbreaks are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.

The vortex is essentially an area of low pressure in the upper layers of the atmosphere over the polar region. This vortex consists of powerful westerly winds in the stratosphere, about 10 to 30 miles about the North Pole, according to Climate.gov.

While not as severe as the 2021 Great Texas Freeze, the upcoming polar vortex will quickly drop temperatures into the 20s and 30s across Texas next week, down into the teens in so

Storm Blair has hit most of the U.S., bringing freezing temperatures to Texas. Precipitation later this week could mean snow for some areas.

The United States continued to freeze through a polar vortex that brought rare cold to the southern United States and chances of freezing weather through much of the country.