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Stratosphere and Jet Stream

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  • Stratosphere and Jet Stream

    Wiki says the stratosphere is preferred for jet travel due to stability, including lack of convection. Yet the article on jetstream says the jetstreams occur in exactly the elevations favored by jet travel. So that makes me wonder if jetstreams are better for flying or worse than convection. And if they are in the stable layer, where does the clear air turbulence come from?

  • #2
    Jetstreams are good for flying as long as you are going in the same direction... they make life very slow going if you're going against them!

    When they say stable, they usually mean vertically stable. There is less vertical movement of air, and so there is reduced convective turbulence. It also means that you are "above" most of the weather you'd otherwise have to go around, like Towering Cumulous and Thunderstorms.

    Clear air turbulence is usually associated with wind shift - winds changing direction and/or speed. The wind shifts can be very large, and CAT tends to be associated with these winds... horizontal shifts, rather than vertical ones.

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