What are jet streams and how do they influence the weather we experience?

Jet streams act as an invisible director of the atmosphere and are largely responsible for changes in the weather across the globe.

A jet stream is essentially an atmospheric highway located at the level where jets cruise. Winds in this high-speed river of air often reach 250 mph.

Storms are guided in a generally west-to-east fashion due to jet streams. if it were not for jet streams, the weather would change very little from day to day. Some areas might never get rain, while other areas may never see the sun.

"During the winter, the jet stream is usually at its strongest and positioned farther south than other times of the year," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.

While the jet stream generally flows from west to east, it is often distorted with northward bulges and southward plunges.

Meteorologists call the northward bulge a ridge and a southward plunge a trough.

On rare occasions, usually during major winter storms such as a blizzard, the jet stream may bend so much that it flows from east to west over short distances. When this happens, the jet stream may break off (close off) from the main branch and spin counterclockwise in a large horizontal circle.

It was a large buckle in the jet stream that developed and created an east to west flow over the mid-Atlantic states during late October 2012. This flow helped to pull Superstorm Sandy onshore over New Jersey on Oct. 29.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/what-are-jet-streams-and-how-do-they-influence-the-weather-we-experience/70003416