If anyone wnts to get started analyzing the weather maps, or is just curious about where my ideas are coming from, today I can pull up a set of images that provide a large-scale framework showing how well everything fits together. The basic hypothesis is that the erratic poleward movement of large streams of pure, uncondensed water vapor, traveling at very high altitudes, best observed under clear sky conditions, will provide an immediate and significant boost to the total heating effect of “greenhouse gas” energy on surface air temperatures. The effects commonly appear on any weather map each day in the form of warm anomalies. The largest anomalies tend to appear over land, not oceans, and also in higher latitude regions where the ambient air supply is normally not well moisturized for natural reasons. Today we can see two such regions, both quite large, on opposite sides of the Northern Hemisphere:
The next image shows the one-day average amount of total precipitable water in the atmosphere, including both vapor and all of the various airborne products of condensation, for one day, everywhere on the planet. The actual spread ranges from about 75 kilograms per square meter in the tropics to less than 100 grams in the coldest parts of Antarctica. Quantities of pure vapor can only be distinguished by comparing this map to one below which shows locations where skies are clear of all clouds and precipitation. Many poleward moving streams of precipitable water are clearly visible on this map, with their movement fully confirmed by an animated version seen daily on the website http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/mtpw2/product.php. I believe the bulk of each stream’s content has its source in one or more bodies of tropical seawater where temperatures are high enough to provide the energy needed to transport vapor high into the atmosphere. From all indications, under clear-sky conditions, when water temperatures are 25C or more, vapor can be continuously lofted many miles upward, thereupon entering smoothly into a wind system unique to that altitude, with no apparent sign of condensation on the upward journey and even well beyond that after the streams have leveled off. On an average day around eight of these streams can be seen separately underway in each of the upper and lower hemispheres:
The next image displays all the parts of the globe where skies have remained clear for all or almost all of the given day. Many of these same regions have as well been clear for a number of previous days, which means some of these vapor streams have been traveling continuously from warm tropical sources to places thousands of miles away without any sign of condensation and only minimal deterioration along the route. Whenever this happens the air temperatures at the surface far below will all be affected by the added input of greenhouse energy for as long as the situation lasts, often causing anomalies to appear along the entire trail. When streams hold high concentrations of vapor content over a long distance the anomalies are likely to be strongest in upper latitudes, or where moisture in normally low, as we see today in the two largest events in the north. Notice from all of the maps how one other stream, which originated in the western Mediterranean Sea area, lost much of its vapor to condensation and precipitation when passing northward over Europe, which often happens to others, but retained enough to finally produce a long and significant warm anomaly when it eventually entered the high Arctic:
All of this high-altitude activity is going on within a wind system quite different from the one at the surface that we are more familiar with. The upper system is basically cold and dry, is the home of several “jetstream” pathways that intermittently display considerable extra strength, and is a place where all winds generally move from west to east, with a few isolated exceptions. The whole setup is managed by an air pressure system that is configured in a much different way from the one at the surface, yet they both act through isobar gradients in the same way to manage wind speeds and direction. The courses followed by high-altitude water vapor streams are greatly influenced by the location and speed of all the winds in the system, in particular by encounters with the speedier jetstream type. These will often block further vapor stream movement and cause extensive condensation while doing so. In this map regular jetstream pathways are located in places where you see the light blue line (Antarctic only), along the yellow fringes of the green zones and within the space between zones shaded darker red and lighter red. You can often see how well the movement of any vapor stream is adjusted either to fit within the outline of these contours or to be ended by one of them.
Please understand that professional meteorologists and climate scientists do not share all of these views in their standard reporting, so perhaps such views are wrong, but this is the foundation of my story and I am not ready to back away from it when the evidence is so visible and so consistent, one day after another.
Carl