TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Over the past few years, there have been a few different instances of jets reaching or exceeding record speeds.
The most recent was Feb. 18, 2024, when a transatlantic flight going from Newark, New Jersey to Lisbon, Portugal hit a max speed of 835 mph, allowing it to reach its destination an hour early.
That flight was helped along by a wicked jet stream clocked at 265 mph. This extreme jet stream was formed by two jet streams converging into one along the Mid-Atlantic, with an added boost from an unusually strong subtropical jet stream fueled by El Niño.
But there is likely another reason for the fast jet streams as of late: climate change.
Research from Dr. Tiffany Shaw, University of Chicago, Department of the Geophysical Sciences, has found that for every 1 degree Celsius increase in air temperatures, the jet stream can increase by 2%. It's not a big boost, but it matters when you are talking about near-record speeds.
However, the science on how climate change is impacting or will impact the jet stream is not straightforward. Some research finds that the jet stream will slow down and become more wavy.
So which is it: faster or slower? Well, the answer could be both depending upon what latitude, altitude and season it is, as well as the prevailing large-scale weather pattern.
Climate change can act to intensify already strong jet streams or cause pressure systems that block fast jets and slow them down. It's complicated!
So in this week's Climate Classroom, we are interviewing Dr. Tiffany Shaw, who will help us clarify the science.