An unprecedented polar vortex disruption unleashed extreme cold and snow, sending temperatures plunging across parts of America. More than a third of regions across the U.S., 34.9%, have been hit by historic above-average snowfall in early December, according to a December 9 report by Newsweek.
The outlet reported that according to the National Weather Service (NWS), winter storm warnings and advisories have been issued across multiple states in the U.S., with up to 14 inches of snow expected between December 8-10.
“According to research from the National Weather Service, the worst impacted areas include Wyoming, Montana, Virginia, Alaska, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Washington, North Carolina and Illinois, with the NWS stating to ‘plan on slippery road conditions,’ especially when the roads are iced over in the morning and night,” reported Yahoo News.
The extreme cold and snow underscore the Divine and Prophetic warnings delivered faithfully by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, and His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
For decades, both of these Divine Servants of Allah (God) have warned that America is being punished for its mistreatment and abuse of the Black man and woman.
In “The Fall of America,” Chapter 35, “America Surrounded with The Judgment of Allah,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes, “The four great judgments that Almighty [God] Allah is bringing upon America are rain, hail, snow and earthquakes.
We see them now covering all sides of America, as the Holy Qur’an prophesies, ‘curtailing her on all her sides.’ And these judgments would push the people into the center of the country, and there they would realize that it is Allah (God) Who is bringing them and their country to a naught.”
In chapter 36, “The Four Great Judgments of America,” He writes, “Snow is of the most dreaded plague when it comes in great drifts from five to thirty-five feet. It buries your property and lives. It destroys your highways, your cities, and your concrete and gravel in towns and cities.
It puts a great burden of expense upon the city to repair it. The cave-in of roofs of homes, the cutting off of homes, the cutting off of transportation, isolating areas, brings about starvation. And communication is destroyed with the icing of communication wires.”
In part 10 of his 2013, 58-week lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” Minister Farrakhan in echoing his teacher, explained that what is happening is not an “accident.”
“You want to say that it’s what ‘we are doing to the environment, etc.,’ and we have some responsibility, however, The God of Heaven is doing this. And as these glaciers melt, the waters of The Pacific and The Atlantic Oceans are going to rise.
And as they rise, they will overspread, and destroy your borders in the East with The Atlantic Coast; in the West with The Pacific Coast, and in The South with The Gulf Coast. It’s happening now. But it will get worse as you continue your rebellion against God, and His Call of what you must do in order to escape ‘loss.’”
Record-setting temperatures and unusual weather
According to the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), official snowfall totals in Chicago between December 6-7 included 5.8 inches at Rockford International Airport, 4.8 inches at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, and 4.3 inches at Chicago Midway International Airport.
Snow was not the only weather affecting Chicago, where temperatures dropped to levels deemed “unusual” so early in December, according to meteorologists. “In 153 years of records, the temperature in Chicago has dropped to five degrees or colder prior to Dec. 5 just 26 times.
The earliest was Nov. 17 in 1959, when the low was three degrees,” reported Chicago’s NBC 5 Storm Team Meteorologist Kevin Jeanes.
“Snow currently covers much of the Plains, Midwest, mid-Atlantic and New England. Ohio Valley and parts of New England have had record snowfall, receiving up to 500 percent of what they typically receive at this time of year,” according to AccuWeather, a global weather forecasting company.
According to the Des Moines Register, at least 14 cities across Iowa tied or broke low temperatures the morning of December 4, with some breaking records that were previously set in the late 1800s, such as in Marshalltown: -12 degrees, which broke the 1895 record of -8 degrees.
Laura Ciasto, Meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Climate Prediction Center, explained that the polar vortex is a band of winds, moving from west to east, approximately 20 miles up in the stratosphere, which is well above where airplanes fly.
Typically, such winds are moving about 50 miles per hour, maybe a little stronger, but starting in early to mid-November, meteorologists observed them weakening, she told The Final Call. That’s not usual for this time of year, and those winds had weakened so much that they became near zero, which marks a polar vortex disruption, she explained.
“Usually, the polar vortex is sitting right over the North Pole, doing its own business, kind of minding its own business, moving winds west to east. And then what happened was it, I think it got knocked around a little bit by stuff that was going on, down at the surface.
Because sometimes what happens is, we get a lot of storms or activity, interesting things going on here, in what we call the troposphere, that energy propagates up into the stratosphere, and it kind of knocks it around a little bit,” stated Ms. Ciasto.
Essentially, this polar vortex, which usually sits over the North Pole, began to stretch out and move away from the pole, closer to Asia. She explained that weakening and moving the winds to near zero caused a sudden stratospheric warming that can warm up as much as 50 degrees in just a few days.
“For this event, it didn’t quite reach this zero threshold. It got very, very close. But most of the datasets that we look at say it didn’t happen. But, regardless, when you get that kind of disruption, you might start to notice it elsewhere, and that’s rare for this time of year.
So, in November, we’ve only ever had one major sudden stratospheric warming, so when we reached that zero threshold and crossed it since we started recording these events in 1958. It’s pretty rare to see it get so weak so early,” stated Ms. Ciasto.
Typically, those are expected in January, February, sometimes in March and December, but not so often in November, according to Ms. Ciasto. “That’s why a lot of people, myself included, were really interested in what this could mean,” she added.
Proper preparation
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught His followers the importance of preparation for when weather disasters and other hardships happen. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has and is doing the same.
The Nation of Islam has conducted disaster preparedness workshops during its Saviours’ Day conventions and several mosques and study groups have shared this information with their communities.
Minister Farrakhan led a delegation to Cuba in 2006 to study and learn more about disaster preparedness management from the island nation and to bring that knowledge back to America.
Sister Alva Muhammad is a Chicago-based emergency management and disaster preparedness specialist. She told The Final Call that one of the beautiful and important aspects of the Teachings is that Allah (God) is still allowing time for Black people to learn disaster preparation and to strengthen areas of weakness.
There were 10 inches of snow recorded in the area prior to Thanksgiving and then on Nov. 29 it snowed for 18 hours straight, she said.
“Winter hasn’t even started yet. It won’t start until December 21 or 22, so it is definitely unusual weather,” Sister Alva Muhammad said.
“We all start from different places,” she said, referring to disaster preparedness. “Some of us have nothing and are just starting out, but some of us have been studying this Teaching and striving to become better prepared for rain, hail, snow and earthquake.
And we’re all at different points along that journey. But when something happens, it gives us the chance, the opportunity to see where we are prepared and to become better prepared,” she said.
People may use these weather events as an opportunity to see how their preparedness efforts are working, she continued, for example, checking to see if they have enough food, electricity, have secured their homes properly, or if they can’t leave their homes, due to being snowed in, is it equipped with essentials to survive sub-zero temperatures?
“Don’t let the thought of an emergency or a disaster paralyze you and don’t let the thought of your preparation being imperfect paralyze you. …We have to show ourselves grace and mercy just as we ask Allah (God) to show us grace and mercy,” she stated. Resume canning, dehydrating and preserving food, prepare car safety kits, but start, she encouraged.
“Learn how to prepare if you live in small spaces, (like) a dorm room. What can you store in your closet that doesn’t take up a lot of space, under your bed, in the back of a desk drawer? Instead of, for example, storing up gallons of water, you may store up water purification tablets or drops,” stated Sister Alva Muhammad.
She also stated that in some instances, packets of freeze-dried or dehydrated foods may be more feasible for space-efficient than canned food. “Spiritual preparation is always important,” she added.