the increase in solar radiation that broke up last winter's polar vortex, in conjunction with the increase in carbon in the atmosphere (more concentrated in the north and south) was very intense and led to a higher level of disorganization than normal. long term climate change models predict the near to total destruction of the polar vortex as a yearly phenomenon. the blasts of cold air that we've been experiencing over the last few years are a last gasp of the arctic, and a symptom of an arctic that is ultimately collapsing under the pressure of an increased greenhouse effect. there's no ice caps on venus at all.
every time the polar vortex collapses in the summer, there's a possibility it won't be able to reform.
the development of the polar vortex requires an immense change in energy that is working against thermodynamics, and a natural increase in entropy. it's really something that shouldn't happen, and it only happens because the sudden decrease in light starting after sept 21st leads to such an immense plunge at such a fast rate. the polar night hits a peak of darkness, and an absence of sunlight, at the end of december.
as the greenhouse effect traps more and more heat into the atmosphere, the polar vortex will become less and less likely to form and will in the end not form at all. when we get to that point, it will no longer come apart in the arctic winter and the hemispheric spring, and we will no longer get blasts of cold air falling south at the end of the polar night, as a consequence of the sun's energy returning to the poles.
in the long term, once all of the cold has been warmed up past a certain point, winter won't happen anymore at all. in the short term, when the polar vortex is only beginning to fail, what will happen is something similar to what you're seeing right now - decreases in sunlight after sept 21st will lead to colder temperatures, but the increased greenhouse effect will prevent the polar vortex from forming. the result is more dispersion of less intense cold air, with increasing decreases in intensity and dispersion, until the polar vortex ceases altogether.
you're consequently actually seeing the beginning of the end of the polar vortex, but the high profile collapses have been signalling this has been on it's way for a while. this is not surprising at all. it's a clear consequence of the climate change models, and we've been watching it build up for years.
the first year where the polar vortex does not form due to a strengthened greenhouse effect will be a major tipping point for the planet's climate. it is probably not this year. however, the trends are clearly pointing in that direction and it might be sooner than anybody imagines.
but the capitalists want to sell you on an ice age or something. click. click. click. buy. buy. buy.