Introduce the phenomena of midlatitude cyclones and jet streams and investigate some of their behaviors. Investigate patterns of seasonal variation in midlatitude cyclones, jet streams, and global temperature patterns, and look for apparent connections between them. Try to explain some observed seasonal variations in rainfall based on those hypothesized connections. Take a look at the two animated sequences of weather maps for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres below. These maps show wind speed and direction at an altitude of around 30,000 ft. for a four-day period in July, 2000.
Blue arrows indicate the wind direction, and longer arrows represent faster winds.
The snaky patterns of the fast winds aloft that you can see on these maps are called jet streams . You might have guessed that there is some connection between midlatitude cyclones and jet streams. Here is a jet stream map and an IR satellite image from the sequence, which illustrates the connection between midlatitude cyclone cloud patterns and the jet stream the best. Note in particular the classic comma-shaped midlatitude cyclone cloud pattern southwest of Alaska and the more chaotic one centered over Manitoba, Canada. On this map, the warmest areas are in the darkest shades of red and the coldest areas are in the darkest shades of blue.