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Earth's Jet Streams Look as Chaotic as a Van Gogh [sciencealert.com]:

The currents of air that wrap around our planet are becoming unrecognizable to climate scientists.

Some have even compared [twitter.com] the chaotic pattern of the jet streams to a Van Gogh painting.

The southern part of the jet stream over North America has completely broken apart and is currently trapped in a vicious revolution that has triggered an off-the-chart heatwave.

While it's normal for the air currents to stop, split apart, recombine and flow in opposite directions, on average these tropospheric air streams are typically quite continuous over long distances with an overall west to east flow.

The current fragmentation is unlike anything specialists have seen before.

[...] Jet streams are known to get 'blocked' on occasion, trapping weather systems in certain regions for days on end. But recent evidence suggests climate change could cause more blockages than usual by slowing down jet streams so they break apart, causing chaotic weather on the ground.

That seems to be what's happening right now in North America, and it's not just climate change that's contributing.

Mann explains that El Niño has likely exacerbated the situation, too.

"I'm honestly at a loss to even characterize the current large-scale planetary wave pattern," he tweeted.

Even the average layperson can clearly see the differences when comparing a normal pattern of jet streams to what's occurring today.

[...] In the past, strange jet stream patterns in Earth's atmosphere have coincided with extreme weather events in both the northern and southern hemispheres [scientificamerican.com], although usually not in both at the same time.

Right now, though, even the southern hemisphere's jet streams look out of whack, experts note [twitter.com].

[...] "It is now clear that Earth's climate system is way out of kilter and we should be very concerned," Central Queensland University Environmental Geographist Steve Turton explained for The Conversation.

From pole to pole, the winds of change are here. The climate crisis is no longer a future problem. It's happening now, right before our eyes.

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