Jet Stream and Arctic Warming

The Team · 2012-07-12 13:58:47

It's hard to ignore the state of the weather at the moment in the UK given the amount of wind and rain we are having, or in short - unsettled weather. Talking of shorts, I should have worn mine a lot more by now - it's also pretty damn cold.

The position of the Jet stream influences the weather systems that work there way around the Northern hemisphere in a west to east direction and so determine to a large extent how many low pressure systems we are likely to 'benefit' from. Notice how I use the word benefit, right - put away your St Tropez, I don't want to see that round here; )

A snap shot of the Jet stream taken from the Bigsalty forecast at 0900 hrs on Thursday July the 12th can be seen below and specifically the high winds above the UK:

The winds in the Jet stream are located in the tropopause and typically take on a meandering shape. This can be clearly seen in the video below, although this is focused over North America:

The strength and position of the Jet stream is a function of the earth's rotation on it's axis and atmospheric heating. So we now get closer to the point....

A recent study by a researcher from the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (the report in to Arctic Amplification) came to the conclusion that the meandering nature of the Jet stream is potentially becoming more exagerated. It's becoming 'wavier', which favours extreme weather. The processes that lead to this appear to be a reduction in poleward temperature gradient enhanced by Arctic warming, which increases the amplitude and slows down the eastward progression of these upper level flows.

So right now, we are getting some fairly 'trade wind' like weather, which a glass half full man might say is a good thing. So fill your boots, because if the research is true this surely means, that at some point we are just as likely to have a wind and swell drought that hangs.... and sits... and hangs....and delays.... for a frustratingly long time.

On the flip side of the coin, whilst we are getting wind, North America have been getting hammered with heat waves and droughts, so this shouldn't be taken lightly. But for now, the best thing to do is make the most of the time on the water and have one eye on the weather..... Bigsalty weather.

lanky8804 · 2012-07-13 07:14:17

Loving the wind ATM, probably being thick but where can i find jet-stream snots like the one above on BigSalty.

Thanks
Alex

The Team · 2012-07-13 20:21:39

Yep - good times.

The Jet stream charts aren't actually available through the site at the moment, that chart has been generated as a one off. If there's demand for it, we might look at auto-generating them for the website. See how it goes, for now, we'll post them online when things look interesting...

James

lanky8804 · 2012-07-16 07:39:06

I have been looking for a decent website that shows the latest JetStream but am yet to find a good one. I think it would be a good additional to your already super site.

Regards
Alex

The Team · 2012-07-18 11:27:49

Hi Alex, ok thanks for letting us know. We'll take that on board.

#1 2012-07-12 13:58:47

Jet Stream and Arctic Warming

#2 2012-07-13 07:14:17

Re: Jet Stream and Arctic Warming

#3 2012-07-13 20:21:39

Re: Jet Stream and Arctic Warming

#4 2012-07-16 07:39:06

Re: Jet Stream and Arctic Warming

#5 2012-07-18 11:27:49

Re: Jet Stream and Arctic Warming

Board footer