Today I am looking at a set of weather maps, all based on the image that features Asia, that provide a large number of illustrations in support of my overall thesis about the relationship between a specific type of high-altitude water vapor and significant air temperature anomalies at the Earth’s surface. A number of consecutive processes are involved in establishing the final outcome, and each of those is subject to either rules or impositions of one kind or another that may in turn be affected by something else. It so happens that every step in the way of development contains key elements that are able to be illustrated, one after another, on the weather maps. We just have to look for them. Let’s start with a jetstream map, where I want you to notice the long streak in the center running from Afghanistan to the Sea of Japan:
The exact location of that stream depends on the current configuration of the 500 hPa air pressure chart, which changes every day. Every wind jet that is shown must reside on one of three possible pathways, one of which regularly tracks the isobars separating light red from darker red on the map. The “red track” of the above jet is well-placed and plainly visible on this image:
According to the thesis, a relatively strong jet that runs horizontally like this one will deter the movement of any water vapor stream in the area that may have the intent of moving northward by passing directly through the region blocked off by the jet. If it cannot do so the region that is blocked off will be unable to receive any of the warming effect that the vapor stream would have provided if the jet were not blocking the way. As a result it could end up cooler than normal, presuming that, on average, a normal day would have provided it with a larger amount of this particular kind of overhead greenhouse effect. The next map in fact shows below average current temperatures for much of the region to the north of the jet, unlike the warm anomalies that exist, all lined up, directly below most of its southern margin:
When the strength of this jet came to an end around the Sea of Japan the situation changed. A vapor stream coming off the Pacific happened to be in place and ready to move north, where it has proceeded unblocked, along with powers in hand that could warm things up down below. (This is the same stream that was given a detailed recording in my letter of three days ago.) A similar development can be seen at the west end of the same jet, where a considerably smaller stream of water was able to squeeze through a passage over Iraq that opened up. Both streams are visible on this map:
Now lets go back to the image showing wind jets and pick out the one shaped as an arc that starts at Finland and heads east. This one fits neatly along the curved green edge of the 500 hPa configuration in the following map, exactly where it belongs with reference to the standard location of intermediate jetstream pathways. This wind jet, while fairly short, has been quite effective in blocking a massive high-altitude water vapor stream moving up from the south, as clearly indicated in the lowest image, but just like the first jet we looked at it could not prevent other streams from curling around both of its ending points. These streams went on to create a separate warm anomaly above the jet. These encountering actions are all viewable in the third image down.
The little circle of blue that is visible on the hPa map is all that remains of what should be a robust jetstream pathway, innermost of the three like they presently exist in the Antarctic, bearing jets not unlike the ones that are active on the two outer pathways. As of a month or so ago the structure and potency of this pathway has all but disappeared. Its possible return toward the end of summer is something we will be watching for, along with a sense of uncertainty about what will be happening in the meantime.
Carl