By Mike Busch 2-20-19
My son and I, both off for President’s Day on Monday, were looking for something to do despite the dreary weather and decided to check out the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead. As we watched the outdoor Sea Lion show, I noticed some interesting clouds racing by with some breaks of sun. As we left, the sky continued to improve with some dramatic looking low clouds so of course we made a detour on the way home to Shinnecock Inlet. What I didn’t know at the time was that a low pressure system was passing to our south and east with some incredible upper atmosphere dynamics. While it was windy at the surface, the jet stream was ripping, clocked at an incredible and record-breaking 230 mph by a weather balloon over Long Island Monday afternoon. It was so strong that it pushed a Boeing 787 to 801 mph over Pennsylvania later Monday evening.
Back on the ground, the sky over Shinnecock was amazing with sun rays breaking through to the west and swirling clouds over head.
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