No. Basically it’s a semi-permanent low pressure area or contiguous areas that are generally located over the arctic and sub-arctic. The boundary is described by the jet-stream and it weakens seasonally due to differential heating. If you think of the jet stream as a giant standing wave, the effects of the polar vortex are experienced in North America when the wave amplitude increases and the wave trough moves west, bringing cooler air into the eastern and central US while a warm high pressure area persists over the west. Push down here, pop up there. Weather is often the result of dynamics in the upper atmosphere that may not be evident on the ground, the best example being an occluded front.
Thank you for correcting me. I was thinking of something else.