Climate change is making jets fly at record speeds

Published February 22, 2019 7:24pm ET



Climate change is likely one of the reasons why commercial airliners flew at record speeds over the continental U.S. earlier this week — something they aren’t designed to do.

The main factor pushing planes faster is the high-altitude band of air that circles the Earth called the jet stream, which reached a new speed record of 230 miles per hour on Monday, based on barometric pressure readings over New York.

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