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View Full Version : Meteorology Question - Jet Streams affect on weather


p_beck
May 28, 2015, 12:57 PM
I am hoping that someone can
assist me with understand an assignment that I was given. I am supposed to find
a map of the jet stream on any website (the example given was www.accuweather.com/en/us/national/weathersurface-maps (http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/national/weathersurface-maps))
Using the current jet stream information I am supposed to determine where the
coldest air is located and why. I attempted to do this yesterday on the site
provided but I don't believe that I am understanding the concept very well.
I will not post the whole answer I came up with here, but in very basic terms I said the
coldest air would be to the west, specifically Idaho, Wyoming, and parts of Colorado because this is the pocket of the deepest "dip" in the stream. I really have no clue if this is even
remotely correct and even after reading the assignment and my text book several
times I think I am missing something.
Can anyone please provide a better understanding of this concept? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Curlyben
May 28, 2015, 01:11 PM
What do YOU think ?
While we're happy to HELP we wont do all the work for you.
Show us what you have done and where you are having problems..

p_beck
May 28, 2015, 01:27 PM
I am more than happy to provide the document I already created, but I was not sure if that would be too much for a post. I have copied it below. After trying to post the information I created I have found I am having problems trying to get the picture to copy and paste, and I don't see how to upload it.

To better explain what I did, I took the given map from the website and compared it to a temperature map of the U.S. for the same time and noticed that the coldest air was in the Pacific north west, particularly the areas around the Great Salt Lake, parts of Colorado, Iowa and Wyoming as I mentioned in my original question. My problem is I don't understand why this is the case. If the Jet stream is pushing cold air south and the "line" on the map is the jet stream, why is the coldest air not under that line, in California and Arizona? I assume this means that rather than "pushing" the air, the jet stream is dipping and taking cold air with it? Is this correct?

_____________________________________

As the jet stream brings cold polar air south in the North Western U.S. I believe the coldest air will be located in the Pacific North West through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and parts of Colorado, with the coldest air found in red circle on the picture below.

I believe the air is cooler in these areas because it appears to be in a “dip” of the jet stream where the largest amount of cool air is collecting. Also the air has not yet come into contact with the humid Gulf air to the south or the warmer air to the east.