The polar vortex would not be the "wall" that air masses/winds in the North Pacific seem to be hitting or diverting around because the altitudes where these two things (the weather phenomenon that are visible on radar and the polar vortex) are vertically separated by at least several miles. Weather phenomenon occur in the lower 10 miles of the atmosphere (the troposphere), while the polar vortex is closer to around 20 miles. To the extent that your weather patterns are being blocked or diverted, the feature that is blocking them must be occurring in the same layer of the atmosphere where those weather patterns are. 

When we talk on the blog about the polar vortex's ability to affect our weather, it is always an indirect influence. Something happens to disturb the polar vortex up in the stratosphere and that kicks off ripples and waves that spread downward to the "weather layer" part of the atmosphere (the troposphere). So, our weather is not directly interacting with the polar vortex.

As far as keeping tabs on the Polar Vortexes, here's a round up of sites that provide info on different aspects of the polar vortexes. Some are more "public" friendly than others ;-) 

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/polar/polar.shtml (focused on variables most relevant to the ozone layer)

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/SSW/ (Operational versions of the graphs of polar vortex strength that we use in this blog can be found by scrolling down the page to the section "Time Series GEFS Analyses and 16 Day Forecasts" and selecting the link for 10-mb U-wind. "Uwind" is the way meteorologists describe the east-west component of a wind vector, which is what is most relevant tot he polar vortex. The north-south part of the wind vector is called the "V wind".) 

My go-to place for seeing the shape/location of the polar vortex is the Earth Null School website. https://earth.nullschool.net/#

When you load the page it defaults to showing winds, which is what you want, but it is showing them at the surface. You have to use the "heights" menu to select "10 mb", which is the pressure level of the polar vortex. 

Enjoy exploring!