An Anton Ali Pop-Ed: The Polar Vortex Brings Tweets and YouTube Clips

I don't mean to complain, but is the duty of us Popculturology contributors to mark these days in history by mentioning how freaking cold it is. I've been living in Western New York for over 20 years, and I don't remember it ever being this cold. While I bask in the minus-15 degree weather with the windchill factored in, I have to remember that we seem to be getting a small fraction of this blistery winter so far.

Unbeknownst to me, there are names for winter storms now. Winter Storm Hercules not only was cold, but it sent a blast of snow our way pretty early in the season. We now turn the corner to Winter Storm Janus, which has brought as much as 20 inches of snow in some states.

It's all part of what everyone is calling a Polar Vortex. This sounds awful. Worse than one Polar Vortex is two Polar Vortii. (That's probably not right.) Anyway, I'm sure you're not reading this for your weather forecast. Instead, here are some funny weather related tweets and video I found:



I haven't tried this trick yet in fear of pouring boiling water on myself.



In the same vein of magic tricks, I found these. A repeat of throwing boiling water is shown here, but watch what happens when someone attempts to pee in the snow.

A selection of some tweets:

You know it is cold when the zoo decides the polar bears must come inside. #polarvortex
— Tricia Cotham (@triciacotham) January 7, 2014

Man, I wish someone would take a screen shot of the weather app on their phone so I can see how cold it is #polarvortex #StarkFreeze
— Chellsea Mastroine (@csmastroine) January 7, 2014

This is what going to work in DC looks like. Don't all freak out at once #polarvortex #dc cc @nowthised pic.twitter.com/9KucA5RaYc
— Ashley Codianni (@AshleyCodianni) January 21, 2014

Tonight on #ChicagoFire a drunk driver's crash causes a blackout on a frigid night. Tune in at 10 et/pt #polarvortex pic.twitter.com/eW2t7kACR3
— Global TV (@Global_TV) January 21, 2014

In closing, I hope all of you are managing to stay warm. If you decide that you must pee in the snow, try to do it out of the wind direction so it doesn't go back in your face.