Flying East From Dallas-Fort Worth? Strong Jet-stream Winds Could Get You There Early

A faster-than-normal jet stream over the United States is getting many eastbound planes to their destinations ahead of schedule.One plane, a Virgin Atlantic flight from Los Angeles to London, reached a ground speed of 801 mph Monday night over Pennsylvania, according to The Washington Post. (A commercial Boeing 747, as an example, flies at 550 to 600 mph, according to the department of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.)A JetBlue Airways flight to Boston Logan International Airport from DFW International Airport on Monday night made its journey in two hours and 57 minutes, according to FlightAware. That flight reached a top speed of 739 mph thanks to the jet stream. Depending on the airline, flights from Dallas-Fort Worth to Boston typically take around three and a half hours, according to FlightSphere.A jet stream is a band of strong winds typically moving from west to east in the upper levels of the atmosphere, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The stream’s pattern shifts and moves, but this week’s jet stream in place over the U.S. has faster-than-normal winds, according to Bianca Villanueva, a National Weather Service meteorologist. A river of air Monday night high above Long Island, N.Y., reached speeds of more than 230 mph, according to The Post.  Continue reading...