Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
What is the fastest known speed of the jet stream, or streams if there is more than one.
Thank you Chris J. G.
**********************************************************
The jet stream is a fast moving river of air way above the surface of the earth. At mid-latitudes, like here in Utah, it's hanging out at about 20,000 to 40,000 feet above the ground. The air in the jet travels at speeds of about 110 to 140 knots (127 to 160 mph) but it can have speeds up to 300 mph once in a while. There are sections of the jet stream that contain the strongest winds, those are called jet streaks or jet maxes. These are just some basic guide lines for the jet, as far as the fastest jet speed ever, I wasn't able to find anything on that. You can also look up contour maps with jet speeds on them for fun if you like!
We measure the speed of the air aloft with a sensor attached the a weather balloon. This is called a radiosonde. Now if the air is super fast it can get torn apart so we won't get an accurate reading.
There is more than one jet stream. In the US, we primarily deal with the Artic, Polar and Sub-tropical jet streams. Artic is just really cold, Polar is cold and Sub-tropical contains warmer air. But a jet could form anywhere, it's not just those ones.
The Jet helps steer the storms below it. In forecasting we can use that wind direction to help us predict where storms will move and who they will affect.
The fastest wind ever on earth was actually 231 mph recorded at the Mt. Washington Observatory in NH in April of 1934. This is considered a surface speed record.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
