More images today, this time with a focus on the heart of Asia. This series is designed to show how and why all these phenomena are related, involving specific details that in many cases are next to impossible to explain for any other reason. On this map of total precipitable water (PW) you can pick out a brown figure shaped like an index finger in the upper left. It represents an ongoing stream that is carrying a load of PW from sources that could have originated as far away as the Atlantic Ocean and at one time accumulated in the airspace over Europe.
This stream is clearly being transported from west to east by a jetstream wind that probably picked up the PW concentration from the air over the heart of Europe while making a turn from southward to northward at a reduced speed:
This jetstream wind was not following this course by acting in a random manner. All streams must stay on a track established by upper-level air pressure differentials. The track governing this stream is of the type that is regularly marked by the way it follows the outer edge of the blue zone on the 500 hPa map. These air pressure differentials are set to scales that are determined through interaction with pressures set up by the diverse pattern of air temperatures at the surface below. (See recent letters for more details regarding the regular means of transmission of this effect.)
PW concentrations that are being transported by jetstream winds commonly react by expelling some of their content as rain or snow precipitation as the journey progresses. Another portion of the content is likely to keep sloughing off from the sides of the wind in the form of lesser amounts of vapor which are prone toward processing by condensation into clouds:
Regular observation of the weather maps may lead one to an understanding that overhead passage of PW concentrations has an effect on temperatures at the surface below, probably generated by the exercise of greenhouse-type energy powers and limited to the time of duration of passage. Such an effect can be found on this day through comparisons of imagery within the related temperature map:
Another method for putting this greenhouse energy effect into perspective employs discretionary studies of temperature anomaly maps, after taking a number of complicating factors into account. Today’s map makes it clear that a warm anomaly is actually happening in the area of PW movement, causing departures from normal running as high as 12C (or 21F) in places. A departure of this size can be explained in only a limited number of possible ways. Overhead passage of PW concentrations must be given prime consideration because of the exquisite timing factor that is invariably observed. At almost the exact moment a relatively large concentration arrives we see the commencement of a relatively large anomaly. When the concentration is gone so will the anomaly be gone. What other factor or set of factors can display a similar level of consistency with respect to this one basic qualification?
Carl