Jet Stream

LAUREL -- Few could have predicted just how yesterday' $60,000 Native Dancer Handicap developed. Long shot Hooliganisim was off to a big lead, while the likeliest front-runner, Flaming Emperor, was 10th and last.But at the finish, many horseplayers at Laurel Race Course and Pimlico inter-track had the correct solution: Jet Stream, the favorite, had surged to victory, holding off an all-out bid by Reputed Testamony, the second choice.Flaming Emperor stumbled badly at the start of the 1 1/8 -mile race, altering its complexion.

Weather watchers are atwitter over a chance for a brush with what could become Tropical Storm Sandy and could bring heavy winds and moisture ahead of Halloween along the East Coast. Some are even calling it a "perfect storm", with polar air potentially converging with Sandy. Of course, a major caveat is necessary: The forecast is more than a week out, meaning it could soon change dramatically. But meteorologists are still getting worked up by what models are showing. Tropical Depression 18 formed this morning and could become Tropical Storm Sandy by Tuesday.

LAUREL -- In racing, as in most things, it's business before friends. So when Jet Stream runs today, Mario Pino will find himself driving home instead of riding what he calls "the best horse in Maryland."Owner-trainer Jack Mobberley said unusual circumstances led to Edgar Prado getting the mount for today's $60,000 Native Dancer Handicap at Laurel Race Course, but that won't preclude Pino from feeling "a little odd" about the situation."It does hurt inside," said Pino. "We've done good with Jet Stream and a lot of horses.

The likelihood of El Nino strengthening this fall and winter fell from about 70 percent to 55 percent in a climate forecast released Thursday. While some indicators show the climate phenomenon has been developing in recent months, others favor more neutral conditions, or at least a weaker El Nino than was previously expected.NOAA's Climate Prediction Center  detailed the forecast in a monthly update  that extends an El Nino watch that has...

Unusually cool temperatures in the Pacific Northwest, floods in the Midwest, drought in the East.What separates this year from others, meteorologists say, is unusual activity from the jet stream -- strong winds that sweep like a broad river across the country, mixing hot and cold air in the atmosphere.This year, though, the jet stream has swung farther south than usual and its winds are wringing moisture normally suspended over the Gulf of Mexico down onto the heads of Midwesterners.The jet stream normally shifts northward during the summer as the sun heats the northern hemisphere.

LAUREL -- After rain made the racing strip sloppy and caused the scratches of two significant rivals, the Maryland-bred gelding, Jet Stream, became the big name in the Walter Haight Handicap yesterday.Originally second choice in a field of seven, he went off afavorite among five in the $54,150 event over 1 1/8 miles at Laurel Race Course. Jet Stream won with tactics decided upon in early afternoon by jockey Mario Pino and trainer Jack Mobberley.Most of the gelding's races this year and last were distance events, and he raced off the pace.

Somebody left the back door to Canada open this month, and the wind is pouring in.Just ask Will Price, a pilot and flight instructor at Brett Aviation, at Martin State Airport in Middle River."

WASHINGTON - Frigid weather with potentially dangerous wind chills is about to settle on the eastern United States for at least a couple of weeks, the National Weather Service predicted yesterday. A soon-to-be plunging jet stream will push temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below normal winter readings for a triangle of America ranging from central Texas to Maine and as far south as central Florida. The temperature plunge and the accompanying high winds will feel especially cold because the United States is coming off the second warmest November ever.

If you like frigid air, deep snow and icy ponds, that was one disappointing January. But if you stretch to pay the heating bills and fear getting around on snow and ice, the month just ended in Baltimore was a blessing - mild, even balmy at times, and snow-free. And you're probably praying your good fortune carries over into February. Forget it. "There are certain changes ahead," said Mike Halpert, a meteorologist at the national Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs. "Week 2 [of February]

January shaping up as 3rd-warmest on record in area The thermostat is down, ice cream sales are up, jogging shorts are in, and snow is out this strangely warm January that has delighted many with its April overtones. With seven days yet to run, January 2006 ranks among the very warmest - and the most snow-free - since recordkeeping began in Baltimore in the 19th century. January was still wearing its spring disguise yesterday, when sunshine, soft breezes and highs around 49 degrees brought out a giddy assortment of sun-seekers.

The mid-Atlantic is in for more frequent than normal snow days this winter thanks to a dual jet stream pattern, according to AccuWeather.com's updated seasonal outlook released Wednesday. Meteorologists are already seeing evidence of two strong jet stream patterns, one bringing cold air from the north and another bringing moisture from the south. When the two converge over our region, that means snow, said Paul Pastelok, a senior meteorologist who heads AccuWeather's long range forecasting.

Northeast cities from Baltimore to New York could be in for a snowy winter, according to AccuWeather forecasters. The weather service's winter 2012-2013 forecast calls for cold weather and large systems of moisture to converge, dumping above-average snow totals along the East Coast. The timing is expected to be in January and February. El Nino, the global climate pattern expected to develop by the end of September, could contribute heavily, according to the forecast. It typically causes a strong southern branch of the jet stream across the country, which can often phase together with cold air and the northern branch of the jet stream around the mid-Atlantic, causing major winter storms.

I'm seeing reports on social media of snow and sleet showers in the suburbs, including northwestern Howard County and near Pikesville. Officially, the only wintry weather expected in the forecast is in Western Maryland, with up to an inch expected today near Deep Creek Lake, according to the National Weather Service. But with temperatures barely breaking 50 degrees and cold air coming in on the jet stream from Canada, any showers of precipitation today could be snow or ice. It's not totally unusual -- Baltimore has seen at least a trace of snow in April four out of the past 10 years.

NASA successfully launched five rockets early this morning after nearly two weeks of delays, and here's what it looked like in case you missed it. The rockets released chemical tracers that allow scientists to study patterns of the jet stream. The launch took place at 4:58 a.m. from the Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia portion of the Delmarva. To see more images of the launch, visit the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's page on Flickr .

The five-rocket launch scheduled for Wednesday night at NASA'sWallops Flight Facility is now slated for Sunday night -- but keep your eye on that launch schedule. The launch date has changed three times now: first to Friday night, then to Saturday night and now to Sunday night. If the weather still isn't right, the date could change again. The clear skies needed for launch also allow for a view of the rockets from across the East Coast. Observers will be able to see white clouds the rockets are emitting into the jet stream to help scientists study its wind patterns.

Eastern Shore readers -- and anyone with a computer -- can watch five rockets being launched 65 miles into the atmosphere Wednesday night into Thursday morning. NASA is planning to hold a launch between midnight and 1:30 a.m. at the Wallops Island facility in Virginia, just south of the Maryland line. The visitors center there will open at 10 p.m. Wednesday for spectators. The rockets are being used to study the winds of the jet stream. Once the rockets reach the intended height, they will release milky white clouds that scientists will be able to see from space.

For people who have suffered through the gales, heavy rains, floods, deep snows, property destruction and lost power of the nasty northeasters of the 1990s, there is little comfort in the fact that recent decades have seen fewer of these classic storms. That is because northeasters generally are more severe than they used to be.The main reason, experts say, is a long-term shift in the predominant winter path of the North American jet stream - the high-altitude, west-to-east river of air in which counterclockwise spinning northeasters are born, from which they draw their energy and by which they are transported.

Daily Sun reader Ed O. Lohmeyer, 86, writes from Baltimore: "What causes the jet stream to move in the pattern it does, and what causes it to drastically change?" The jet stream flows along the shifting boundaries between big masses of warm and cold air, like a conga line through a crowded party, steering energy and storms. As arctic air plunges south in winter, or hot air moves north in summer, the jet stream moves with them. Spring and fall may find it snaking all over the map.

The weeks of heavy rain that triggered historic flooding in northeast Australia this month have been blamed on what climatologists are now calling one of the strongest La Nina events in the Pacific Ocean since record-keeping began a half-century ago. La Nina's global influence is also being blamed for heavy rains in Indonesia and Brazil. But unusually persistent cold weather this winter in Maryland, and in much of the eastern United States, heavy December rains in Southern California, and snow across the Deep South are the work of separate weather patterns in the Arctic, scientists say. Called the Arctic, or North Atlantic, Oscillation, these air and ocean patterns have been unusually persistent for the second winter in a row, overwhelming weather "signals" from the tropical Pacific.

At the tail end of the wettest and snowiest December on record, and topping off one of the city's wettest years, it looks like the area is in for more rain and snow before ringing in the new year. The National Weather Service is forecasting a 60 percent chance for a "wintry mix" of precipitation on New Year's Eve, continuing through the night. The area might see sunshine today, but the bad weather is expected to start as snow after 1 a.m., changing to freezing rain and then rain by Thursday afternoon.