That dangerous blizzard everyone seems to be talking about this week will develop into a bomb cyclone because it wallops the Midwest and Great Lakes later this week. It’s going to also bring damaging winds because it spreads toward the East Coast, making a travel nightmare for thousands and thousands ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend.
The term “bomb cyclone” comes from the meteorological term “bombogenesis” or “explosive cyclogenesis.” This happens when a storm system’s central pressure drops a minimum of 24 millibars inside 24 hours. A low-pressure system that achieves this mark becomes often called a “bomb cyclone.” Meteorologists also use the phrase “bomb out” to explain the phenomenon.
The rapid drop in air pressure means the storm intensifies in a short time and might create large impacts resembling heavy snow, rain, high winds and coastal flooding.
Bomb cyclones are more common within the Pacific Ocean but do occur within the Atlantic Ocean.
“Bombogenesis is fairly common within the Pacific Ocean region because there’s enough water surface area for strengthening. It has happened a couple of times on the Atlantic coastline; nonetheless, it shouldn’t be as common there,” said FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen McCloud.
“Forecasting this phenomenon is quite difficult to do especially when there are changes in forecast model runs. More often than not, this happens in real-time situations. It is simple to pick, especially on the satellite, whenever you see bombogenesis occur,” he added.
Not all bomb cyclones occur in the autumn and winter months. A study published within the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology checked out 783 bomb cyclones over 15 years within the Pacific Ocean.
The study present in 69% of cases, bomb cyclones often happened from December to February and early March. In response to researchers, the frequency depends upon the region of the Pacific where the storm is situated, with a peak in March and the second peak in October, November and December.