# 2019 North American Polar Vortex 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.' ## 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 Midwest[1]. 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 people[2]. As news coverage saturated the feeds, the vortex itself was quickly turned into an internet character. The meme sits at the intersection of weather journalism and shitposting. One thread ran earnest: frostbite warnings, closed schools, states of emergency[2]. 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' woman[5]. 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 right[6]. ## 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 explainers[5]. 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, 1985[3]. 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 jackets[2]. 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 likes[5]. 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 day[5]. 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 content[5]. 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 day[5]. 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 weakens[4]. ## How to Use 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 jokes[5]. 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 subject[5]. Chicagoans often paired the trend with the #chiberia tag on Instagram and Twitter, using frozen streets, cars, and lunches as visual proof[5]. 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 cycle[5]. ## 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 Mississippi[2]. 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' outdoors[2]. 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 ended[6]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 2019 North American Polar Vortex? It's the January 2019 internet moment when a split Arctic polar vortex sent record cold into the Midwest and Reddit and Twitter personified the swirling storm image as a 'curvy' woman[5]. ### Where did 2019 North American Polar Vortex come from? Sudden stratospheric warming over Siberia in early December 2018 pushed the vortex apart into 'sister' vortices, which drifted south and hit the Midwest by late January 2019[1]. ### What does 2019 North American Polar Vortex mean? It refers to both the actual weather event and the run of jokes, thirst-posts, and Trump reactions built around it on Reddit and Twitter[5]. ### How do you use 2019 North American Polar Vortex? Typically by captioning the satellite image of the swirling storm with a joke about it being 'thicc' or 'outta town,' or by tagging frozen Chicago photos with #chiberia[5]. ### Is 2019 North American Polar Vortex still popular? It's a dated 2019 event meme that mostly resurfaces when a new cold snap pushes the vortex south again[5]. ### How cold did it actually get? Chicago dropped to minus 23 Fahrenheit and was forecast to match its all-time low of minus 27, with regional wind chills as low as minus 53 Celsius[3]. ### What did Trump tweet about the polar vortex? On January 28th, 2019, he posted 'What the hell is going on with global waming? Please come back fast, we need you!' pulling roughly 200,697 likes in two days[6]. ### Who first posted the 'thicc vortex' joke? Redditor Ppenn777 on January 29th, 2019, with a satellite shot captioned 'Someone tell the vortex to put a bra on,' which gained about 45,200 upvotes[5]. ### What is #chiberia? A Chicago-specific tag used on Instagram and Twitter starting January 29th, 2019, to share frozen skylines, cars, and food during the cold snap[5]. ### How many people died in the 2019 polar vortex? BBC News reported at least five weather-related deaths across several states during the late-January cold snap[2]. ### Is the polar vortex always there? Yes, atmospheric scientist William Seviour told Popular Science the polar vortex is always present but only makes headlines when it splits or moves south, roughly every other winter[1]. ## References 1. [https://www.popsci.com/polar-vortex-fractured]() 2. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47047089]() 3. [https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-cold-weather-20190127-story.html]() 4. [https://www.foxnews.com/us/what-is-a-polar-vortex-what-to-know-about-the-weather-phenomenon]() 5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/2019-north-american-polar-vortex]() 6. [https://x.com/i/status/1090856850348826624]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/2019-north-american-polar-vortex Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library