There will be lots of talk in the news media today of Storm Bram. The jet stream is doing its bit across the North Atlantic, strengthening to over 170mph over the British Isles today, creating the dynamic conditions for the low pressure area to bring severe gales and heavy rain.

The chart below shows even stronger jet stream winds in the western Atlantic, the purple colours highlighting winds approaching 200mph or more.

There have been paper published in recent years relating to the strengthening a poleward movement of the jet stream.

Take a look at this poster from a paper presented by Eumetsat which quickly shows the evidence for a jet stream getting stronger and shifting poleward as a resolution of climate change.

It’s something we need to be aware of, because the result could be stronger winter storms and more rainfall should the jet stream more frequently be over the UK and Ireland.

The next few days will be a demonstration of what may be a more frequent occurrence in the decades ahead.