Let’s chat jetstream for a minute…

Let’s chat jetstream for a minute…

First screen grab is showing current wind speed at about 30,000ft. This is illustrating a typical setup for colder temps at the surface for puget sound.

This jetstream is also associated with a “polar lobe” so you can imagine in this setup how cold, arctic air is transported over the inter-mountain west, across the continent and into our maritime northwest.

This setup is similar to what brings snow down to sea level in puget sound - with one difference - the polar lobe will be further west, and cold air will spill off the continent around Haida Gwaii, mingling with warmer, moister Pacific air. This results in a storm building and wrapping back into the maritime northwest. That’s basically why we see occasional snow storms at sea level here on Whidbey. That’s the setup.

Second slide - the upcoming jet setup for the second half of this week. Quite a difference here from the first. This is a more typical pattern for us during fall and winter.

This setup will transport warmer air (and storms) into the region, but these storms will be noticeably warmer compared to the first slide pattern.

The second setup will also throw the Gulf of Alaska Low into storm mode, and here we’ll see a return of seasonable temps (lows in the 40s, highs in the 50s or 60s), but also clouds and rain.

We’ve still got some cold temps to get through this weekend and early next week, but the pattern shift is coming.

One trade off, however, is we may lose that warm afternoon sun, but I’ll be evaluating the storms for next week and give more detail on what happens with the Gulf of Alaska low and what it will bring for us.

#wawx #jetstream