Posted by Elana Janson on September 24, 2013 at 07:58:04:
“And knew not until the flood came and took them all away…..”
Mat 14:37-39 “But as the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
These are the words that Christ used in connection with the Return.
The slowing of the jet stream
The sudden increase of “floods” in 2012 and 2013 world-wide needs to be noted. Scientists and climatologists are at present considering whether the slowing of the jet stream may have resulted in the great floods that have taken place in numerous places since the end of 2012 and this year.
(I am not a climatologist so I have taken some information on the jet stream that has appeared on the internet lately.)
Jet streams are fast moving, narrow currents of air found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere (where temperature decreases with altitude) and the stratosphere (where temperature increases with altitude). The main jet streams on Earth are westerly winds (flowing west to east). Their paths typically have a meandering shape; jet streams may start, stop, split into two or more parts, combine into one stream, or flow in various directions including the opposite direction of most of the jet. The strongest jet streams are the polar jets, at around 7–12 km (23,000–39,000 ft) above sea level, and the higher and somewhat weaker subtropical jets at around 10–16 km (33,000–52,000 ft). The Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere each have both a polar jet and a subtropical jet. The northern hemisphere polar jet flows over the middle to northern latitudes of North America, Europe, and Asia and their intervening oceans, while the southern hemisphere polar jet mostly circles Antarctica all year round.
Jet streams are caused by a combination of a planet's rotation on its axis and atmospheric heating (by solar radiation and, on some planets other than Earth, internal heat). Jet streams form near boundaries of adjacent air masses with significant differences in temperature, such as the polar region and the warmer air towards the equator.
Other jet streams also exist. During the Northern Hemisphere summer, easterly jets can form in tropical regions, typically in a region where dry air encounters more humid air at high altitudes. Low-level jets also are typical of various regions such as the central United States.
I have given this explanation because I think that these (the strongest jets: two polar jets and two subtropical jets) are what Revelation means by the “four winds of the earth” in Rev 7:1.
The jet streams are slowing down
Scientists have noted that the polar jet stream in the northern hemisphere has slowed down, the wave patterns known as planetary or Rossby waves started to meander and widen, just like a river does when it slows down. The meanders form large areas that bring warmer weather much farther north and colder weather much farther south than usual. Low pressure systems form in the southern end of the troughs – these cyclonic or inward-flowing masses of air result in convective storms, heavy rainfall events, and flooding. High pressure systems form in the northern end of the ridges – these anti-cyclonic or outward-flowing masses of air bring hot, dry weather.
The slowing of the west to east flow of the jet stream produces large meandering areas that can come to a standstill, resulting in long periods of unchanging weather. The jet stream becomes stuck, leading to extreme weather
I have given this explanation because the slowing down in recent months could have resulted in extreme flooding that has occurred.
Dr. Jennifer Francis, research professor at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Studies at Rutgers University has been looking at what climate change is doing to jet stream patterns.
The patterns of the jet stream are changing. Normally, as cold Arctic air mixes with warmer air from the south, the temperature differential moves the jet stream from West to East.
Unprecedented melting of ice in the Arctic makes the temperature difference between the cold air and the warm air smaller, this is slowing the jet stream down causing it to get stuck. Arctic amplification – where the Arctic is warming faster than most of the Northern Hemisphere is also causing the jet stream to meander, with higher ups and lower downs. So as the snow melts in Arctic and sub-Arctic areas earlier and earlier each spring, the jet stream becomes stuck, causing more weather extremes.
I believe the slowing of the jet stream is revealed in the symbolism of Rev 7:1 “four angels standing on the four corners of the earth holding, the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea nor any tree.”
Rev 9:14”Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates”. Taking into account that I believe “Euphrates” in Revelation relates to the Iraq war and the gathering of the nations to the “great battle”, the extreme weather would be apparent from about 2003.
Flooding over the globe seems to be increasing in recent months.
Hurricane Sandy 30-31 October 2012
Jet stream trough changed Sandy from a hurricane to a hybrid storm. The storm began as an unusually intense, late-season hurricane south of Cuba, which rapidly intensified to nearly Category 3 hurricane status. This required very warm ocean surface waters. Sandy's passage across the mountainous terrain of Cuba temporarily knocked the wind from its sails. But after weakening to a humble Category 1, Sandy began to grow in size. And continue to grow. The maelstrom eventually swelled to more than 1,100 statute miles in diameter, becoming the largest tropical cyclone in Atlantic basin history. Two days before landfall, Sandy developed a system of weather fronts. It bore resemblance to a large, winter-like Nor’easter, yet with a distinctly tropical core. The only word to describe such a cyclone is a “hybrid.” A large, intense trough in the mid-latitude jet stream and its surface cold front contributed directly to the transition of Hurricane Sandy to a hybrid storm. And Sandy was the only tropical cyclone in United States history for which both hurricane and blizzard warnings were issued simultaneously.
Floods in Europe. May 2013
The primary cause of the torrential rains over Central Europe during late May and early June was large loop in the jet stream that developed over Europe and got stuck in place. A "blocking high" set up over Northern Europe, forcing two low pressure systems, "Frederik" and "Günther", to avoid Northern Europe and instead track over Central Europe. The extreme kink in the jet stream ushered in a strong southerly flow of moisture-laden air from the Mediterranean Sea over Central Europe, which met up with colder air flowing from the north due to the stuck jet stream pattern, allowing "Frederik" and "Günther" to dump 1-in-100 year rains. The stuck jet stream pattern also caused record May heat in northern Finland and surrounding regions of Russia and Sweden, where temperatures averaged an astonishing 12°C (21°F) above average for a week at the end of May. All-time May heat records--as high as 87°F--were set at stations north of the Arctic Circle in Finland.
Alberta Canada June 2013
The key factors that led to the tremendous rainfall in Alberta can be summarized as follows:
1.An upside-down or ‘blocked’ jet stream pattern across western North America
2.A strong area of low pressure that developed and got stuck near southern Alberta because of the jet stream pattern.
3.A moist channel of air from the Gulf of Mexico that was pulled up by the low pressure system and slammed up against the foothills and Rocky Mountains.
Russia and China floods August September 2013
In August 2013 the Russian Far East, along the Chinese border, “unseasonably heavy rains” fell which caused it is said the largest-scale flooding in Russia’s history. The Far East encountered an unprecedented disaster. The local old-timers don’t remember ever seeing a flood of such magnitude when the water rose to new highs in Khabarovsk, in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
Colorado September 2013
The Front Range of Colorado is reeling from the biggest—and probably most destructive—flash flood in the region’s history. A storm that dropped a year’s worth of rainfall in about 24 hours.
It is said that a blocking pattern had set up over the western United States, drawing a conveyor belt of tropical moisture north from coastal Mexico. Blocking patterns form when the jet stream slows to a crawl, and weather patterns get stuck in place. When all that warm, wet air hit the Rocky Mountains, it had nowhere to go but up, pushed further skyward by the mountains.
Four
The “blocking’ of the jet stream may only be part of the symbolism of “four winds”. It could include the slow movement of tropical storms over the oceans in which time they pick up much moisture. Why are we seeing so many devastating hurricanes and typhoons? Latest Ingrid and Manuel in Mexico and Usagi in the Philippines and China.
The following table of 2013 weather disasters is taken from wunderground.com.
The world-wide tally of billion-dollar weather disasters so far in 2013 is 25, and the U.S. total is six, according to the August 2013 Catastrophe Report from insurance broker Aon Benfield. This excludes the September Colorado flood, whose damages are preliminarily estimated at $2 billion. Ranked in term of cost, here are the 25 disasters:
1) Flooding, Central Europe, 5/30 - 6/6, $22 billion
2) Drought, Brazil, 1/1 - 5/31, $8.3 billion
3) Drought, Central and Eastern China, 1/1 - 7/31, $6.0 billion
4) Flooding, Calgary, Alberta Canada, 6/19 - 6/24, $5.3 billion
5) Flooding, China, 8/9 - 9/5, $5.0 billion
6) Tornado, Moore, OK, and associated U.S. severe weather, 5/18 - 5/22, $4.5 billion
6) Flooding, China, 7/7 - 7/17, $4.5 billion
8) Flooding, Indonesia, 1/20 - 1/27, $3.31 billion
9) Super Typhoon Utor, China and Philippines, 8/12 - 8/15, $2.6 billion
10) Flooding, Australia, 1/21 - 1/30, $2.5 billion
11) Flooding, Philippines, 8/18 - 8/21, $2.2 billion
12 Tornadoes and severe weather, U.S., 5/26 - 6/2, $2 billion
12) Severe weather, Midwest U.S., 3/18 - 3/20, $2 billion
14) Flooding, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 8/3 - 8/31, $1.9 billion
15) Winter weather, Europe, 3/12 - 3/31, $1.8 billion
16) Drought, New Zealand, 1/1 - 5/10, $1.6 billion
17) Severe weather, U.S., 4/7 - 4/11, $1.6 billion
18) Flooding, Toronto, Canada, 7/8, $1.45 billion
19) Flooding, China, 6/29 - 7/3, $1.4 billion
19) Flooding, China, 7/21 - 7/25, $1.4 billion
21) Flooding, Argentina, 4/2 - 4/4, $1.3 billion
22) Flooding, India and Nepal, 6/14 - 6/18, $1.1 billion
23) Winter weather, U.S. Plains, Midwest, Northeast, 2/24 - 2/27, $1.0 billion
23) Severe weather, U.S. Plains and Midwest, 8/5 - 8/7, $1.0 billion
23) Flooding, Russia, 8/4 - 8/31, $1.0 billion