Polar Vortex the New Normal?

Our high temperature today will be 19 degrees. In the morning it will drop close to zero.  We'll have a rapid warm up and we may see 60 degrees by Sunday only to have another Arctic blast to hit us next week. Normally, it will get gradually colder each winter until about the first week of February and then a gradual warm up into spring. The normal average high temperature for this time of year is 48. Oh, how warm that seems now.  This unusual wandering south by the Polar Vortex is driving utility bills higher and higher as we are hit by extreme cold. Traditionally we take in stride the higher heating costs of winter, but I suspect in the future we will have to restructure our budget in order to have a cash reserve just for the winter heating bills. I grew up in Southern California and during the 50s and 60s utility bills we not a very large part of the household budget. Things are changing.