Another Jet Stream Question

[Pollydoll9964]

Hi-

I have been watching the weather and jet stream patterns for the last few weeks.. I have a flight to Germany coming up this Thursday night and have never crossed the Atlantic in winter. I have noted the increased winds in the jet during winter and also the lower location of the jet. I noticed however in the jet forecast for later this week (Thursday) the jet is going to be way up arching over Greenland and not quite as strong. Realize this can change but I was surprised to see it so high up there in winter and it also looked to be not as strong (120-130 knots) as it has been lately. Just curious if this is an unusual pattern for winter? I am wondering if my eastbound flight from Boston will go way up there to get the tailwind or cross in the usual location of the eastbound tracks that go south of land. Thanks- the website is great by the way!

[tb_neg]

I think b744drvr might be able to speak better to this topic, hopefully he sees it. That being said, the best map to look at for an estimate is the Europe 1, as it covers most of the Atlantic Ocean, and then cross reference to the jet stream. I really don't look at the jet stream map very often, unless it's for a personal flight, and I usually obsess about my own far too long in advance, but it's time poorly spent. You really can't know with any degree of accuracy until about 24 hours or less before, and even a few hours before is a crapshoot, as it can be rough when it says smooth, and smooth when it says rough. But it's still fun to do anyway!