2019 North American Polar Vortex

2019eventclassic

The 2019 North American Polar Vortex was the January 2019 cold snap that hit the U.S. Midwest after the Arctic polar vortex split apart, and it became a meme when Reddit and Twitter users personified the swirling satellite image as a curvy woman and mocked Donald Trump's tweet about global 'waming.'

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Overview

The 2019 North American Polar Vortex refers to the internet moment that grew around a rare atmospheric event in late January 2019, when the Arctic polar vortex broke apart into at least two 'sister' vortices and pushed record cold into the American Midwest1. Meteorologists called the resulting freeze a 'once-in-a-generation' event, with wind chills reaching as low as minus 53 Celsius across more than 55 million people2. As news coverage saturated the feeds, the vortex itself was quickly turned into an internet character.

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The meme sits at the intersection of weather journalism and shitposting. One thread ran earnest: frostbite warnings, closed schools, states of emergency2. The other ran completely unserious, with Redditors captioning the round, swirling satellite image of the split vortex as if it were a 'curvy' or 'thicc' woman5. A separate strand hooked onto President Donald Trump's much-mocked January 28th tweet asking global 'waming' to 'come back fast,' which pulled hundreds of thousands of likes and became reaction fodder in its own right6.

How It Spread

By January 31st, AccuWeather was reporting record temperatures across the Midwest, and mainstream outlets including The New York Times, BBC News, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, Fox News, and HuffPost were running polar vortex explainers5. The Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago hit minus 23 degrees Fahrenheit before dawn on January 30th and was forecast to drop to minus 27, matching the city's all-time low set on January 20, 19853. BBC News reported at least five weather-related deaths, states of emergency in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, and Chicago police warnings that people were being robbed at gunpoint for their Canada Goose jackets2.

The joke half spread from Reddit onto Twitter within about a day. On January 30th, Twitter user 27_male_NYC reposted Ppenn777's vortex image with the caption 'fellas ur girl outta town n the polar vortex send u this pic, wyd???' for around 16,472 likes5. That same day, Redditor Nautricity posted the swirl to r/rule34 asking 'Can we Lewd The Polar Vortex? Its curvy af,' and Twitter artist NaPalm Express drew a naked cartoon depiction with the caption 'forecasters are saying this polar vortex is gonna be dummy t h i c c,' pulling roughly 3,139 retweets in a day5.

A parallel Chicago-specific tag also caught fire. Locals started posting frozen skylines and frozen lunches under #chiberia on Instagram and Twitter starting January 29th, with users like Nick Olivier and Paul Storms turning ice-encrusted daily life into content5. Midwesterners on Twitter filmed the classic boiling-water-into-snow and freezing-soap-bubble stunts, and SkyNews's clip of a girl going outside with wet hair that snapped into icicles pulled about 800 likes within a day5. Fox News, meanwhile, ran a straight explainer describing the vortex as 'a large area of low pressure and cold air' that expands south when the polar jet stream weakens4.

How to Use This Meme

The template is typically the round, blob-shaped satellite image of the split vortex captioned as if it were a person, often with 'thicc,' 'curvy,' or bra-related jokes5. A common convention pairs the swirl image with a text setup about a girlfriend or partner ('fellas ur girl outta town...'), turning the storm system into an unfaithful romantic subject5. Chicagoans often paired the trend with the #chiberia tag on Instagram and Twitter, using frozen streets, cars, and lunches as visual proof5. Short outdoor stunt clips, like boiling water thrown into the air and instantly turning to snow, also became a common contribution to the wider meme cycle5.

Cultural Impact

The freeze itself killed at least five people and closed more than 2,000 flights, with hundreds of Midwestern schools shut and states of emergency declared in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Alabama, and Mississippi2. The Illinois city of Chicago opened 62 'warming centres' for an estimated 80,000 rough sleepers, and Iowa's National Weather Service office warned residents to 'avoid taking deep breaths, and to minimise talking' outdoors2. On the political side, Trump's global 'waming' typo became its own recurring reference point in arguments about climate literacy, keeping the tweet in circulation long after the cold snap ended6.

Frequently Asked Questions

2019 North American Polar Vortex

2019eventclassic

The 2019 North American Polar Vortex was the January 2019 cold snap that hit the U.S. Midwest after the Arctic polar vortex split apart, and it became a meme when Reddit and Twitter users personified the swirling satellite image as a curvy woman and mocked Donald Trump's tweet about global 'waming.'

viral photo memes trump memes 2019 memes reddit memes

Overview

The 2019 North American Polar Vortex refers to the internet moment that grew around a rare atmospheric event in late January 2019, when the Arctic polar vortex broke apart into at least two 'sister' vortices and pushed record cold into the American Midwest1. Meteorologists called the resulting freeze a 'once-in-a-generation' event, with wind chills reaching as low as minus 53 Celsius across more than 55 million people2. As news coverage saturated the feeds, the vortex itself was quickly turned into an internet character.

Loading tweet...

The meme sits at the intersection of weather journalism and shitposting. One thread ran earnest: frostbite warnings, closed schools, states of emergency2. The other ran completely unserious, with Redditors captioning the round, swirling satellite image of the split vortex as if it were a 'curvy' or 'thicc' woman5. A separate strand hooked onto President Donald Trump's much-mocked January 28th tweet asking global 'waming' to 'come back fast,' which pulled hundreds of thousands of likes and became reaction fodder in its own right6.

How It Spread

By January 31st, AccuWeather was reporting record temperatures across the Midwest, and mainstream outlets including The New York Times, BBC News, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, Fox News, and HuffPost were running polar vortex explainers5. The Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago hit minus 23 degrees Fahrenheit before dawn on January 30th and was forecast to drop to minus 27, matching the city's all-time low set on January 20, 19853. BBC News reported at least five weather-related deaths, states of emergency in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, and Chicago police warnings that people were being robbed at gunpoint for their Canada Goose jackets2.

The joke half spread from Reddit onto Twitter within about a day. On January 30th, Twitter user 27_male_NYC reposted Ppenn777's vortex image with the caption 'fellas ur girl outta town n the polar vortex send u this pic, wyd???' for around 16,472 likes5. That same day, Redditor Nautricity posted the swirl to r/rule34 asking 'Can we Lewd The Polar Vortex? Its curvy af,' and Twitter artist NaPalm Express drew a naked cartoon depiction with the caption 'forecasters are saying this polar vortex is gonna be dummy t h i c c,' pulling roughly 3,139 retweets in a day5.

A parallel Chicago-specific tag also caught fire. Locals started posting frozen skylines and frozen lunches under #chiberia on Instagram and Twitter starting January 29th, with users like Nick Olivier and Paul Storms turning ice-encrusted daily life into content5. Midwesterners on Twitter filmed the classic boiling-water-into-snow and freezing-soap-bubble stunts, and SkyNews's clip of a girl going outside with wet hair that snapped into icicles pulled about 800 likes within a day5. Fox News, meanwhile, ran a straight explainer describing the vortex as 'a large area of low pressure and cold air' that expands south when the polar jet stream weakens4.

How to Use This Meme

The template is typically the round, blob-shaped satellite image of the split vortex captioned as if it were a person, often with 'thicc,' 'curvy,' or bra-related jokes5. A common convention pairs the swirl image with a text setup about a girlfriend or partner ('fellas ur girl outta town...'), turning the storm system into an unfaithful romantic subject5. Chicagoans often paired the trend with the #chiberia tag on Instagram and Twitter, using frozen streets, cars, and lunches as visual proof5. Short outdoor stunt clips, like boiling water thrown into the air and instantly turning to snow, also became a common contribution to the wider meme cycle5.

Cultural Impact

The freeze itself killed at least five people and closed more than 2,000 flights, with hundreds of Midwestern schools shut and states of emergency declared in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Alabama, and Mississippi2. The Illinois city of Chicago opened 62 'warming centres' for an estimated 80,000 rough sleepers, and Iowa's National Weather Service office warned residents to 'avoid taking deep breaths, and to minimise talking' outdoors2. On the political side, Trump's global 'waming' typo became its own recurring reference point in arguments about climate literacy, keeping the tweet in circulation long after the cold snap ended6.

Frequently Asked Questions