Winter Is Not Only Coming; The Polar Vortex Arrived

A wall of ice and "winter is coming" are not just fictions from Game of Thrones. According to a climate scientist from the University of Wisconsin, polar bears are not the only ones who suffer from the global warming that reduces the size of ice bergs. Collapsing glaciers should raise concern, not just entertain, tourists to Alaska.

Once a glacier's ice wall cracks, it enables a swoosh of Arctic air to rush south. The polar vortex that crippled the midwestern United States last week can result. Frigid temperatures also cause frost quakes like the one experienced near Lake Michigan in Chicago.  When sections of underground water freeze, they can crash together with a loud bang and cause slight tremors similar to an earthquake. 

If you've ever tried to function when it is minus 20 degrees with a wind chill that makes it feel like minus 40 or 50 degrees, you will see how serious a glacier break can be. People freeze to death. Systems equipped to heat homes in Wisconsin only handle minus 16 degrees, and last week they did not heat homes well enough to prevent the need to wear gloves inside. Water mains break; fighting fires becomes even more hazardous; buses cannot run because diesel fuel turns to gel; car batteries don't start.

If we add the effect of frigid weather to that of burning heat caused by global warming, or if you want to call it climate change, the future of life on planet Earth looks bleaker and bleaker.