Frigid air from the North Pole: What's this polar vortex?

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As of Monday afternoon, the Midwest was battling uncommonly frigid weather that threatened to break some all-time-low temperature records. January is typically cold, but not this cold, with several Midwestern cities such as Chicago gripped by daytime 

Why does Chicago feel like the Arctic today? It's because of the polar vortex. Oh, ok. Wait, what is the polar vortex? While there's a lot of meteorological science behind it, it's actually pretty easy to explain. According to the website

Move over, haboob. See you next summer, heat dome. The weather phenomenon hogging all the attention now is.

Temperatures plunged below zero on Monday as arctic air swept into the country's midsection, forcing Minnesota to shut its schools and airlines to cancel thousands of flights.