Passive House & the Polar Vortex

What Unexpected Winter Weather Means for You

Over the past few days, we watched Winter Storm Blair travel across the country, burying communities in up to 18 inches of snow. The storm has caused broken records, school closures, power outages, and even deaths, and the dangers don’t stop once the storm rolls through. When a power outage leaves a home or building without heat, occupants are at risk of hypothermia, and often turn to dangerous strategies to keep warm, which can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. The quest to stay warm in the winter means that house fires are more common, and are especially dangerous during a winter storm when emergency services are stretched thin and are unable to travel across icy roads. Power outages during winter weather can also cause costly repairs due to freezing pipes, and can cut off your access to water.

Unfortunately, extreme winter weather is growing more likely in places that have historically escaped it before. The polar jet stream and polar vortex—two rings of fast-moving air around the Arctic—play a large role in the average world weather patterns we’ve come to rely on. Now, the warmer temperatures caused by climate change have caused these air masses to become destabilized, slowing them down. This lost momentum is causing their boundaries to bend, which is why we’re seeing colder air masses reaching further down south, even as parts of the Arctic are dealing with unusual warm spells (like the ones causing Alaska’s permafrost to melt). Think this storm is just a fluke? Think again. Winter Storm Cora is already on its way, and everywhere between Texas and the Carolinas is locked in its sight starting Wednesday night.

Thanks to advancements in weather forecasting, we often have a few days’ notice before a blizzard hits, which gives residents vital time to prepare. Extra food, water, and blankets are common items on the winter storm preparedness checklist, but what about your building?

When extreme weather comes, we can plan ahead with Passive House and design with resilience in mind. New and retrofitted Passive House buildings can help you stay safe in extreme weather, even when the power is out, in both cold and hot temperatures. Our 2023 report, Safe at Home, found that a building designed to Passive House standards can keep indoor temperatures above the critical safety threshold of 40 degrees for 6 days and 8 hours. A new code-compliant building will fall under that threshold in less than 2 days. When snow and ice cause power outages, and dangerous roads prevent evacuation, a Passive House building creates a safe refuge, saving lives.

Climate change is causing a steady increase in extreme weather events throughout the world, and that number is only going to go up. You might not have had to deal with dangerous cold snaps in your area before, but you can’t be certain that they aren’t coming soon. Passive House allows you to build for the future weather instability by safeguarding your home, family, and community.

You can learn to design new and retrofit Passive House buildings during our upcoming Certified Passive House Designer training. Register and join us on January 16th, and help design a safer future.