Though it won’t sound prefer it, a “bomb cyclone” is a respectable scientific time period, so named as a result of the speedy formation of the storm is sort of a bomb going off.
Millions of Americans have been warned to brace for a bomb cyclone with blizzard circumstances, wind chills and temperatures plunging as little as -45.6C (-50.1F) – chilly sufficient to get frostbite in lower than 5 minutes.
A bomb cyclone or “weather bomb” is a time period used to explain a quickly deepening space of low strain.
“More correctly, it should be called explosive cyclogenesis, which is when the central pressure of a low pressure system falls dramatically – by 24 millibars in 24 hours,” Sky News climate presenter Kirsty McCabe stated.
“These intense storms bring heavy precipitation and very strong winds. In the US right now, very cold Arctic air is being pulled in, with the freezing weather causing further complications.”
How does a bomb cyclone type?
The sudden change in strain is because of interactions with a strong jet stream, McCabe stated.
“This is the fast-moving ribbon of air high in the atmosphere that steers our surface low pressure systems around.
“The distinction between chilly, Arctic air within the north and heat, tropical air within the south has strengthened the jet stream, which in flip deepened the world of low strain.”
Why is it known as a bomb cyclone?
Meteorologists have likened the sudden drop in strain to a bomb going off, utilizing phrases resembling “explosive cyclogenesis” and “bombogenesis” to explain the storm’s formation course of.
The time period particularly refers back to the pace at which a storm types, Daniel Swain, a local weather scientist on the University of California, stated.
“It doesn’t necessarily refer to the absolute strength of the storm system,” he stated.
Does the UK get bomb cyclones?
The UK has skilled climate bombs, most famously the Great Storm of 1987.
How does a bomb cyclone differ from a hurricane?
“All bomb cyclones are not hurricanes,” Mr Swain stated. “But sometimes, they can take on characteristics that make them look an awful lot like hurricanes, with very strong winds, heavy precipitation and well-defined eye-like features in the middle.”
Hurricanes are likely to type in tropical areas and are powered by heat seas. For this motive, they’re most typical within the US in summer time or early autumn, when seawater is warmest.
In distinction, bomb cyclones do not want balmy ocean waters to type.
They can seem over land in addition to the ocean and are most typical between late autumn and early spring, when heat tropical air bumps up towards frigid Arctic air.
“They have to occur at a time of year when there is some possibility of both warm and cool air at the same time,” Mr Swain stated. It’s the distinction in temperature that fuels the drop in strain.
Are bomb cyclones harmful?
It relies upon. Sometimes, bomb cyclones behave like standard winter storms.
But typically they produce heavy flooding, blizzard circumstances and wind speeds akin to a Category 1 hurricane.
“Fundamentally, the impacts of a bomb cyclone are not necessarily different from other strong storm systems, except that the fast strengthening is usually a signature of a very powerful storm system,” Mr Swain stated.
Much of the hazard lies in the truth that bomb cyclones can take individuals unexpectedly, he added.
Source: information.sky.com”