What three storms impacting the country have in common

A trifecta of storm systems is impacting Canada this week. A 'bomb' cyclone is bringing severe wind to coastal B.C, while a Texas low has triggered snow and winter storm warnings in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. On the east coast, a stalled area of low pressure has put Atlantic Canada into several days of cloudy, damp, and windy weather.

A trifecta of storm systems is impacting Canada this week. A “bomb” cyclone is bringing severe wind to coastal B.C., while a Texas low has triggered snow and winter storm warnings in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. On the east coast, a stalled area of low pressure has put Atlantic Canada into several days of cloudy, damp, and windy weather.

They are three storms with varying weather conditions, but they all have one thing in common -- they are all caught up in a jet stream pattern that is slowing them down and prolonging impacts.

The polar jet stream is a band of strong wind that wraps around the northern hemisphere at a height of about nine kilometers in the atmosphere.

These high-level winds are important for steering the surface pressure systems that are responsible for much of our weather.

When the jet stream is positioned relatively straight west-to-east (zonal), it favours a quicker movement of those weather systems. When the jet stream is set into a pattern of rises to the north (ridges) and dips to the south (troughs), it favours a slow progression and even stall of those weather systems. That type of pattern in the jet stream is referred to as “meridional”, as in moving towards and away from the meridian.

The jet stream pattern this week is the latter.