Sting jet

Saw the term “Sting Jet” for the first time yesterday with regards to the high winds during the storm that hit the East Coast on 2 March.

With a caveat that I’m not on firm ground it seems that a Sting Jet is a phenomenon related to rapidly developing low pressure systems, the so-called “bomb cyclone”. Somehow, on the equatorial side of some (around 40%) rapidly developing extratropical cyclone a blast of wind can descend out of the sky. There is an explanation here.What is a sting jet?

From Wikipedia

A sting jet is a meteorological phenomenon which has been postulated to cause some of the most damaging winds in extratropical cyclones, developing according to the Shapiro-Keyser model of oceanic cyclones.

European Windstorm Conceptual Model.jpg


By Snow2 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

The first Sting Jet entry in Wikipedia was in 2013.

Shapiro-Keyser doesn’t have it’s own entry, it’s included in the article Extratropical cyclone

The model of extratropical cyclones that was standard when I learned weather basics is called the Norwegian cyclone model.

The Norwegian model is from about 1910 and later, the Shapiro-Keyser model was developed in 1990.
The model I use, and still find useful, is that Zeus, God of the Sky, rules. Mariners should navigate near storms with care.

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