The jet stream is not only the place where jets cruise across the country, they are basically the invisible producer of weather around the world.
If there was no such thing as a jet stream, locations across the world may not even experience weather. Some could see rain everyday and never see the sun, others could experience extreme heat with no relief.
There are three different jet streams here in North America, the polar jet, mid-latitude jet (the strongest jet) and the subtropical jet.
The two jets that affect us directly are the polar jet and subtropical jet. The polar jet is the temperatures boundary for the cold polar air and the warm air from the equator. The polar jet normally sits at roughly 60° N.
The subtropical jet is located at 30° N and is the temperatures difference between the warm equator air and the mid-latitude air.
In the winter the polar jet moves south following the sun but also strengthens. This is due to the cold polar air getting colder but the warm air from the equator staying the same, increasing the temperatures contrast.
This is why we have two severe weather seasons down here in Baton Rouge. We usually see our strongest severe weather systems from mid to late March and then again in mid to late November. This is when the jet is close and pushing through cold front after cold front producing strong winds, hail and tornados.
As the polar jet moves further north during the summer it brings severe weather to the southern plains from April to May, and then in August, it shifts up to the Great Lakes region.
These rivers of air may be invisible, but they sure do make an impact on our daily weather.
