Vortex
The polar vortex is expected to return as bitter cold weather sends chills throughout the U.S. during winter 2015. Reuters

As bitter cold weather sends chills throughout the U.S., the phrase that made everyone shiver in 2014 is back. The arctic blast, also known as the polar vortex, is expected to bring record-breaking cold to the northeast, Midwest and south Thursday and Friday, The Weather Channel reported Wednesday. Temperatures are expected to drop as low as double digit degrees below zero. Some meteorologists have dubbed the cold front the "Siberian Express," NBC News wrote.

The NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center used the term “polar vortex” to describe the frigid blast. “There are indications that this could be some of the coldest weather since the mid-1990s for parts of the Southeast U.S., Mid-Atlantic and central Appalachians. An eddy of the polar vortex will add to the potency of the surface cold front, thus creating a deep layer of bitterly cold air.”

For Thursday, Places as far south as Nashville, Tennessee, and Asheville, North Carolina, could see the minus-zero readings, TWC wrote. Florida, which is known for warm weather, could experience temperatures in the 20s in the northern part of the state. Records could be broken in Charlotte, North Carolina; Baltimore; Louisville, Kentucky; and Chicago.

And Friday is expected to be even worse. There’s a forecast of below minus 20 in parts of Indiana, southern Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, far western Virginia and Kentucky.

Much of the northeast has seen massive amounts of snow, and places like New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia could see more during the polar vortex, NBC News wrote. Boston, specifically, has had record snowfall, which has led some daredevil-spirited Bostonians to jump out of their windows and into the snow. It’s a past time Mayor Marty Walsh doesn’t condone. “It’s a foolish thing to do and you could kill yourself,” he said Monday, according to the Boston Herald. “I’m asking people to stop their nonsense right now. These are adults jumping out windows.”

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