May 7, 2020

As If We Weren’t Already Dealing With Enough, the Polar Vortex Is Back

Parts of the country could see snow and temperatures 20 degrees below average this weekend.

Owen Humphreys/PA Wire/Zuma

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First came the pandemic. Then, the giant murder hornets. Now, a freak May snowstorm is set to blanket the Northeast, adding a new degree of absurdity to a year that can’t seem to get any weirder.

The polar vortex will send temperatures plummeting about 20 degrees below average in many parts of the Northeast and the Midwest on Friday, potentially blanketing northern New England with snow. Following a stretch of sunny spring weather, 75 million people could face temperatures below freezing on Saturday morning—an additional impetus to just stay home.

But the dipping temperatures shouldn’t be confused for a sign that nature is healing. Scientists theorize that warming Arctic temperatures could disturb atmospheric circulation patterns, increasing the frequency of extreme weather events across the Northern Hemisphere. These events aren’t limited to cold snaps; for example, abnormally hot, dry conditions have recently sent wildfires raging across the Florida Panhandle. Global temperatures are still showing a rising trend, and 2020 is on track to be one of the hottest years on record.

Still, for many Americans, it’s time to gear up for a Mother’s Day that could feel as cold as Christmas.

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“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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