The configuration of the jet stream, a band of high-altitude westerly winds, also contributes, although its current position, to the far north above the continent, is not uncommon for summer, according to Mike Brewer, a physicalscientist with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
"There's no physical difference in the moon, " said Noah Petro, scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.