BARDSQUILL: [KENT STEADMAN] weather in the gulf appears to be spinning CLOCKWISE!
radar/clkws.gif
RESEARCHER: That shouldn't happen ...
RESEARCHER: This correlates with airline pilots I've heard from, that the west/east jet stream seems to have reversed!! They now need more fuel to fly east ... than west. The exact opposite of the "normal" situation for the past 100 years ...
BARDSQUILL: Here's the actual Yahoo data:
Yahoo! Weather - U.S. Satellite Loop

RESEARCHER: Thanks ... I'll pass this on to other key persons ...
BARDSQUILL: great, scrounging for a theory here.
RESEARCHER: Try opposing jet streams ... parallel to each other ... not seen for a L-O-N-G time ...
RESEARCHER: Remember, the upper atmosphere winds on Venus circle BACKWARDS to the very slow rotation of the planet, with a period of about four days ... (Venus rotates in about 243 days). So, this "opposite" wind pattern is NOT impossible.
RESEARCHER: It merely means that our "conventional weather" is suddenly CHANGING. Duh ...
BARDSQUILL: Also getting many reader reports of bizarre horizontal lightning; found a paper, CEDAR STUDIES:
gc solar cedar review
electrodynamic coupling between atmospheric layers, spurred on by recent observations of lightning-like electrical discharges in the middle atmosphere above thunderstorms.
RESEARCHER: Lateral lightning has been known for years, and has been videoed from the Shuttle in some spectacular sequences. I saw out my new "bridge" windows a spectacular thunderstorm display of lightning last night, for hours ... A lot of "bent lightning" (at a significant angle to the ground), but no true lateral displays. Too bad ... :(