Research links climate change to ‘lazier’ jet stream, leading to extreme weather
High-pressure ridge over Texas, 2018. Credit: Weatherbell
Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper atmosphere, typically occurring around 30,000 feet, and blowing west to east. Their normal flows lead to week-to-week weather variations, modulated in the mid-latitudes by ridges and troughs in the jet stream. A high-pressure ridge, for example, produces clear, warmer weather conditions; a trough is…