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Jet Set A massive jet stream formed over the mid-Atlantic region this past weekend, with a fascinating effect: pushing certain eastbound commercial flights faster than the speed of sound. As the Washington Post reports, one Virgin Atlantic flight reached a ground speed of 802 miles per hour — faster than the 767 mph measurement of the speed of sound — as it jetted from Washington Dulles International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport on Saturday, landing 45 minutes ahead of schedule. All told, three commercial jetliners were swept up by the fearsome jet stream, which clocked in at a blistering 265...

A so-called “atmospheric river” has drenched drought-stricken Northern California with several inches of rain and several feet of snow. Reports of rockslides, mudslides, and toppled trees were in abundance on Monday as National Weather Service forecasters continued to issue flood warnings and advisories for the central and northern parts of the state. Flooding was reported across the San Francisco Bay Area and overflowed rivers across Napa and Sonoma counties. The National Weather Service said that about 4 inches of rain fell in San Francisco. The California Highway Patrol, meanwhile, shut down part of State Route 70 in Butte and Plumas...

The mineralogical and chemical compositions of dust particles depend on geographic locations. For example the sand in Middle East is mostly composed of silicate minerals, carbonates, oxides, sulfates, and salts in different proportions. In addition recent studies have shown organic nitrogen in rainwater is related to dust originating from Sahara desert dust [19-21]. These small and insoluble particles contain various soluble contaminants in their matrix and on their surface and may also be carriers of anthropogenic pollutants [22-24]. In addition, many microorganisms associated with these dusts can withstand environmental stresses such as high temperatures, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and atmospheric transport...

Extreme blasts of freezing weather hitting Europe and the USA in recent years aren’t caused by a warming Arctic changing the jet stream, as previously thought. Research by the University of Exeter disputes earlier studies suggesting a warming Arctic was creating a “wavier” jet stream and linked to climate change. They found it’s more likely the other way around with random fluctuations in the jet stream warming up the Arctic over decades. […] It was assumed there was a long term trend towards a wavier stream that was causing extreme weather conditions to strike mainland Europe and the USA. Dr....

For the second consecutive time in two years, La Niña (translated from Spanish as “little girl”) is back and she means business. New data from Climate.gov indicates La Niña conditions have formed just in time for winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere. On Thursday, the Climate Prediction Center confirmed La Niña after analyzing October ocean temperatures cooling along the equatorial eastern and central Pacific Ocean. La Niña is often declared when sea surface temperatures in the region (just stated) decline by 0.5 degrees Celsius(snip)(Lots of nice charts and graphs at the site.)

Lake Sediments Record Climate Change At Cahokia INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA —National Public Radio reports that climatologist Broxton Bird of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and colleagues analyzed layers of calcite crystals interspersed with layers of mud on the bottom of Indiana’s Martin Lake in order to learn about historic rainfall levels at Cahokia. The study suggests that beginning in the 900s, the Central Mississippi Valley received more rain than usual. And carbon isotopes found in skeletons at Mississippian cities indicate that people ate a lot of corn. “That comes at right around 950, and that’s around the time the population at Cahokia...

You know jet streams as fast-flowing air currents in the atmosphere that can help predict temperature and help planes fly faster. According to data sent back by a trio of ESA satellites called Swarm, though, there's also a jet stream deep beneath our planet's surface, and it's made of molten iron. A team of European scientists have discovered the jet stream in the Earth's outer core that's located 1,900 miles underneath its crust. It moves at 25 miles per year, three times faster than the speed of the other layers in the outer core and a thousand times faster than...

Political people in the United States are watching the chaos in Washington in the moment. But some people in the science community are watching the chaos somewhere else — the Arctic. It’s polar night there now — the sun isn’t rising in much of the Arctic. That’s when the Arctic is supposed to get super-cold, when the sea ice that covers the vast Arctic Ocean is supposed to grow and thicken. But in fall of 2016 — which has been a zany year for the region, with multiple records set for low levels of monthly sea ice — something is...

The two bloggers who have perpetuated this misinformation are Robert Scribbler, who describes himself as ” a progressive novelist, non-fiction writer and emerging threats expert,” and Paul Beckwith, who is working on a PhD with “a focus on abrupt climate system change” at the University of Ottawa. Scribbler says the cross-equator flow is a manifestation of man-made global warming, supported by the hypothesis that disproportionate heating of the Arctic is destabilizing the jet stream. “The Hemispherical Jet Streams have moved out of the Middle Latitudes more and more,” he writes. “More and more it has invaded regions both within the...

A new paper (Moffa-Sánchez et al) reports that they looked at layers of dead plankton in ocean mud (otherwise known as foraminifera in marine sediments) and have reconstructed the temperature and salinity of a couple of spots in the North Atlantic between 818AD – 1780 with data on δ18O and the Mg/Ca ratios. One immediate thought, an aside, is that if this technique works, there is no shortage of ocean mud, surely, and perhaps we could drill and analyze more mud for solar correlations in other places. (I hear foraminifera live in the Southern Hemisphere too). Perhaps no one is looking...

* Problems not at critical level -local officials quoted * U.S. Air Force delivers coolant to nuclear plant * Thousands of residents evacuated as precautionary measure (Adds researchers' quotes, background) TOKYO, March 11 (Reuters) - Thousands of residents were evacuated from an area around a nuclear plant in Japan after a powerful earthquake raised fears of a radiation leak, but local officials said problems with the reactor's cooling system were not at a critical level. There were no signs of a radiation leak, but the U.S. air force delivered coolant to the nuclear plant to avert a disaster within the...

(Near MILLARD, Mo.) A small plane has crashed tonight south of Kirksville Regional Airport. The aircraft was inbound from St. Louis to Kirksville Regional Airport with 13-15 passengers onboard. We're told that the plane is one of the daily flights between Kirksville and St. Louis. (snip) Authorities have confirmed a fire in a wooded area. No word yet on complete injuries or deaths. So far law enforcement tells KTVO that 2 survivors have been found and transported to Northeast Regional, 5 are unaccounted for at this time and there are several fatalities. (snip)