This band of strong wind separates cold air from the Arctic from warmer air to the south, and it's responsible for transporting weather from west to east across the US, over the Atlantic, and into Europe. It controls how wet and warm these regions are.

But according to a recent study, the jet stream is shifting north as global temperatures rise. That's because the delicate balance of warm and cold air that keeps the stream in place is getting disturbed. If greenhouse-gas emissions continue unabated, the study found, the jet stream will break out of its normal range by 2060.

"The 'onset' of the jet stream's northward migration may have already begun," Matthew Osman, a researcher at the University of Arizona's Climate Systems Center who co-authored the study, told Insider.