IT WAS A RECORD-COLD HALLOWEEN ACROSS THE U.S.

Freezing Arctic air lingered anomalously-far south on Thursday, thanks to a violent buckling of the jet stream. This has been the pattern for the majority of October, and the phenomenon is associated with the historically low solar activity we’re currently experiencing — the jet stream’s usual tight ‘zonal’ flow has lost strength and reverted to more of a wavy ‘meridional’ flow.