#Vortex definition series

#Vortex definition series

“The big cold snap associated with the Polar Vortex breaking free in 2014 was a little more displaced towards the East Coast whereas last week’s displacement of the Polar Vortex is much more focused in the middle of the country and farther south 2014 also lasted a lot longer with a series of storms dumping cold air, snow and ice over a four-month period.”įrom a freight market perspective, the 2014 Polar Vortex resulted in a 14% increase in dry van spot rates increasing in the first 100 calendar days. “The main difference between the 20 Polar Vortex events is the location and duration,” according to meteorologist Michael Page from FlawlessForecaster. Tune into DAT iQ Live, live on YouTube or LinkedIn, 10am ET every Tuesday. Get the clearest, most accurate view of the truckload marketplace with data from DAT iQ. While the recent Polar Vortex events have many thinking back to the winter of 2014, Winter Storms Uri and Viola took a different path last week, resulting in a very different impact on freight markets. Last week reefer, spot rates jumped $0.22/mile from $2.32/mile, excluding fuel, to $2.55/mile. Gains were slightly higher in the temperature-controlled sector, where demand for reefers was high to keep traditional dry freight from freezing. The impact on spot markets was significant, with dry van spot rates surging for the second week in succession, increasing by $0.19/mile from $2.05/mile, excluding fuel surcharges, to $2.24/mile. Add to that the lack of snow removal and road-treating equipment in states not used to cold air, snow and ice – as well as moist Gulf air being dragged into the storms as they moved east – and the result was snow-covered interstates, highway closures, out-of-service truck stops, trees down and millions without power. Winter storms wreaked havoc on freight markets last week.