Jet Stream Getting Faster, Causing More Powerful Storms

MAYNOOTH, IRELAND — A group of scientists used powerful computers to calculate the speed of high-altitude jet streams as long ago as 1871. They then used these computer models to come to some shocking conclusions. Here are the details:


The Irish Times reports that scientists used a group of powerful computers to model jet stream speeds from 1871 up to 2021. The study was led by doctor Samantha Hallam from Maynooth University in Ireland.


She said the jet stream model created by the computers show that the northern hemisphere jet stream has grown stronger since 1871, with the average speed of the stream during winter having increased by 8 percent, compared to 1871. The current average is 212 kilometers per hour.


According to the computer model, the position of the jet stream during winter has also moved northwards by up to 330 kilometers, bringing it much closer to Ireland.


Over the week starting on February 15 the jet stream brought three powerful storms to Ireland and the U.K.


Hallam said that, in addition to increasing storm activity, the changed jet stream pattern is also affecting temperature patterns in the Northern Hemisphere, and these changes can bring strong winds and flooding events.


Hallam’s research team used a vast amount of data that was analyzed by the so-called “Twentieth Century Reanalysis Dataset," a group of powerful computers that analyzes global atmospheric circulation and surface pressure observations.