Jet Stream

Here's a cartoon I made on my phone.  It's an explanation of what the Polar Jet Stream is and how it might be changing!


The winter of 2019/2020 was the 5th wettest on record in the UK, and the spring of 2020 looks like it will turn out to be the driest.  This has been attributed to the polar jet stream being more wavy and slower to change shape than in the past.  This meant that we got stuck in a U bend all winter and an $\Omega$ bend all spring!

This may be due to climate change, specifically the higher rate of heating that is occurring in the arctic region as newly exposed sea water causes less sunlight to be reflected.  However, most climate models appear to suggest the opposite: that the Jet Stream will speed up and become less wavy.

Some types of prediction in climate science are easy and others are hard.  That the Earth will warm up significantly this century is certain; exactly what that will do to the polar jet stream and local weather patterns is very uncertain.  All we know is that we should expect some big changes, and we're going to need to adapt fast.


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