Jet Stream Above

Yes the jet stream is above us...in the upper layers of the atmosphere. In looking at maps and data this morning to make the forecast, I thought this would be a good topic for today to talk about. The two images above show the jet stream over Iowa last night. The first one (above left) is a vertical profile of the atmosphere. The is a chart of wind speed at different levels of the atmosphere from 7 pm last night over Waterloo. The bottom of the chart is the time with the last night on the right and tonight on the left. The wind is contoured to show where the strongest wind is. Notice where I drew the arrow. Last night the jet stream was over Iowa. Another way of looking at the jet stream over Iowa is by looking at the 300 mb chart (top right). This is a chart that basically connects the dots with observing stations that send weather balloons up into the air and than it sends back weather data. I drew a line here showing where the jet stream is across North America. Notice how the jet stream dips south in the eastern U.S. and ridges in western Canada? This is part of the reason why we have been so cold around here lately and without much change.