Winters on the U.S. East Coast are ordinarily moderated by the Bermuda high, a swirling mass of moist tropical air off the Atlantic Coast that acts as a protective buffer to icy arctic blasts. This winter, because of abnormal patterns in the high altitude winds (TIME, Jan. 20), the Bermuda high has been flubbing its job. Result: successive masses of polar air have flowed down the Mississippi Valley and eastward, spreading out to reach deep into Florida, to bring abnormal cold and, in the clash with tropical air masses, heavy rains and...
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