Polar Vortex Hoax 2014: Rush Limbaugh Says Term Was Created By Liberals

Rush Limbaugh might not think the “polar vortex,” the peculiar weather pattern that has inflicted brutal cold across America, is real, but an actual meteorologist spoke out Tuesday to set the conservative radio talk show host straight.

Limbaugh, 62, made headlines Monday when he accused the media of making up the “polar vortex.” He blamed the “concept” on the left to propel their environmental agenda.

“We are having a record-breaking cold snap in many parts of the country,” he said, according to a transcript. “And right on schedule, the media have to come up with a way to make it sound like it’s completely unprecedented. Because they’ve got to find a way to attach this to the global warming agenda, and they have. It’s called the ‘polar vortex.’ The dreaded polar vortex.”

Limbaugh went on to say that liberals are pushing the hoax and also the ones responsible for perpetuating it. He continued to say liberals created the polar vortex and added that the weather system “actually sounds like a crappy science fiction move,” as quoted by Politico.

But HuffPost Live spoke to Bernie Rayno, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, who said the term “polar vortex” has been around for a while and quite real. "We've been using the name in this field for — I've been in this field for 25 years, this isn't anything new," he said. "Usually meteorologists would never even use that term because people wouldn't understand it."

Rayno also commented on Limbaugh dismissing the term “polar vortex” as something that has been created by the left and propelled by the media. "Now, any time anybody tries to have a debate, it turns into being politicized," he said. "Whenever you politicize something, you contaminate it."

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