How do meteorologists know where to draw jet streams on weather maps?
I can’t figure this one out. Please help. A: Meteorologists draw two kinds of maps showing the weather, including jet stream maps. The first kind shows what was going on at a particular time. These maps are called an “analysis.” The second kind of maps are forecasts of what the weather, including the jet stream, should be doing hours and days in the future. The main way of finding out what the jet stream is doing now for the first kind of maps is to send up weather balloons from places all around the world twice a day. They go up at the same time in every place, at midnight and noon Zulu time. The balloons carry instruments to measure temperature, humidity and air pressure. They carry radios to send the data back to the ground as the balloons soar above 60,000 feet. As the balloons rise they are tracked. The direction the balloon goes in and the speed it travels show the winds at each altitude. All of this data is sent to forecasting centers around the world and used to create maps sho
