Devastating floods destroyed towns in Germany and Belgium. A ruthless heat wave broiled the Western U.S. and Canada. Heavy rains paralyzed a Chinese industrial hub home to 10 million people. These recent weather phenomena are being intensified by the changing climate.
But the link between these far-flung extremes goes beyond warming global temperatures. All of these events are touched by jet streams, strong and narrow bands of westerly winds blowing above the Earth¡¯s surface. The currents are generated when cold air from the poles clashes against hot air from the tropics, creating storms and other phenomena such as rain and drought.
¡°Jet streams are the weather ¡ª they create it and they steer it,¡± said Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center. ¡°Sometimes the jet stream takes on a very convoluted pattern. When we see it taking big swings north and big dips southward we know we¡¯re going to see some unusual weather conditions.¡±
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