Ranked dead last, or perhaps not mentioned at all, would probably be the only state that sits partly within the Arctic Circle: Alaska. But 2025 is off to an interesting start as far as the weather is concerned.

The cold temperatures are coming from a not uncommon expansion in the Polar Vortex, which are counter-clockwise rotating air currents that typically hang over the Arctic.

Anytime we get an Arctic air blast down this far south, this is an artifact of the polar vortex rearing its ugly head,” said climatologist Barry Keim .

Warmer-than-normal temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico did not cause the record-setting snowfall, but the conditions may have been an ingredient to the unusual weather.

The LDH reported one winter weather-related death in the state this year—a 65-year-old man in Rapides Parish who died due to hypothermia—and advised people to stay inside during the extreme cold and to seek shelter if unhoused.

Louisiana isn’t known for extreme cold weather—but that changed Tuesday, when the National Weather Service issued its first-ever blizzard warning for much of the state.

A winter storm sweeping through the U.S. South on Tuesday was dumping snow at levels millions of residents haven’t seen before

A mass of air called the polar vortex has escaped the Arctic and plunged southward. Some scientists see the fingerprints of climate change.

"Polar vortex" sounds cool ... issued its first-ever blizzard warning for some areas around Lake Charles, Louisiana on Jan. 21. Parts of Houston reportedly received snowfall of up to 6 ...

He pointed out another change in the polar vortex brought sharp cold temperatures to south Louisiana in February 2021, but the moisture from the Gulf wasn't around that time. Lauren Nash ...

government offices and businesses was a result of an expansion in the polar vortex — likely the second-coldest air mass on record to hit South Louisiana, Grymes said — coincidentally meeting a ...

The National Weather Service's Lake Charles, Louisiana, office issued its first ... the majority of the continental U.S. thanks to a polar vortex disruption. The Arctic polar vortex is a band ...