The East Coast Is About To Get Hit by a Bomb Cyclone

[EarthFirst]

The East Coast Is About To Get Hit by a “Bomb Cyclone”

Much of the eastern United States has been assaulted by brutally cold temperatures over the last week. New Year’s Eve revelers in New York City rang in 2018 in 9-degree weather—the coldest midnight temperature since 1907.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that a “bomb cyclone” is expected to batter the East Coast later this week. A weather system only earns that name by dropping in pressure rapidly—at least 24 millibars over 24 hours—in a process called bombogenesis. Winds could kick up to 55 mph just off the coast of New England, a prospect that has prompted local weather stations to warn of hurricane-force winds.

https://mobile.twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/948255400851378176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Finstant-articles%2F

In Boston, which is no stranger to cold weather and has suffered through brutally low temperatures this past week, the National Weather Service forecasts near-blizzard conditions, with just a quarter-mile of visibility.

https://mobile.twitter.com/NWSBoston/status/948302100852871170/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Finstant-articles%2F

But the snow won’t be limited to northern states. As far south as Georgia and Florida, forecasters are calling for potentially dangerous winter weather, with several inches of snow in some areas. 

https://mobile.twitter.com/NWSJacksonville/status/948311098595344384/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Finstant-articles%2F

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/01/the-east-coast-is-about-to-get-hit-by-a-bomb-cyclone/

[applegrove]

1. So cold in Ottawa my landlords emailed us and pointed out that if we leave

a window open to regulate the heat, as people in old buildings sometimes do, the radiators could shatter and steam would be released. That is how cold it is. I'm hibernating this week.

[blaze]

9. My friend in Indiana had a window crack because of the cold

Sliding door window with a heat vent along the floor.

She now knows to divert that warm air away from the window.

[applegrove]

24. Never heard of it before. Freaky cold!

[customerserviceguy]

2. Friends in NY have told me

that when they dropped the ball on New Year's Eve, it went right back up again!

[customerserviceguy]

3. "Bombogenesis"

Sounds like a good name for a variety of happy herb.

[maxrandb]

6. Or a great name for a Rock Band n/t

[customerserviceguy]

29. OK, how about this?

Smokin' a bowl of the weed I described, while listening to an album from the band you described?!!

[maxrandb]

36. Far out Man

My mind just blew

[maxrandb]

37. That would be Bombogenesis Inebriation

[mitch96]

26. I love that word....

Creation of a pressure dropping atmospheric event that intensifies a storm:
The dropping of at least 24 millibars over 24 hours.......cue the whistle........ boom!!
m

[Gabi Hayes]

4. How cold IS it, johnny?

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/cold-weather-united-states-mars/549386/

HIYO!!!

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. "hurricane-force winds" have to be at least 72 mph.

Which is a Cat. 1 on the hurricane scale.

But 50 mph winds in this cold are pretty anxiety provoking.

[Blue_Adept]

7. Local news here in Boston is reporting there'll be 70+mph winds over the course of the storm

Hence it getting the designation.

[blaze]

8. Holy crap!

Any talk about shutting down school and/or businesses?

[Blue_Adept]

10. Not yet but it's a given. The Boston/coastal area is tagged at 10-15" of snow

Going a bit west into the state and it hits a 6-10 range. School buses have been bad enough this week already with the cold in lots of them not starting. In my town, half the buses didn't make it to pick any of the kids up yesterday because they wouldn't start, and the outsourced bus company didn't let the town know quickly enough to try and get in touch with parents. Turned into quite the mess.

[blaze]

11. One year our school district was caught off guard

and did *not* call a snow day. (I never envy the folks who have to make that call)

Snow fall was more than anticipated and kids were already at the bus stops and buses were having LOTS of problems. Principals (among others) were out driving the routes trying to pick up the kids.

[Blue_Adept]

13. Yup, it's a hard call when there are so many factors

I generally take the decision about it out of the school's hands in regards to my own kids and what i feel will be safe. One of mine takes the bus and the other I drive since they're in different schools and it comes down to:

"Would my child be safe walking to school in this now/later." and the same with the bus.

I had a principal give me grief about it once but said that the choice is mine whether I should risk their lives on buses that are not run by the school district but rather outsourced and has a primary focus on their owners/profitability over safety of students. I will make that call, not them. Always had some fun run-ins with bus related issues over the years with horrible locations picked for stops and all that. I made the case at one point that a particular stop was terrible because years earlier we had a car crash right into that spot on the corner and in the winter it's extra dangerous. They refused to change it so I made the request to the local PD that they should have someone there to watch the area because of how dangerous it is. Suffice to say, the cops backed me on that because they had safety studies that showed it was not a safe location and there were numerous accidents throughout the day over the years there.

[blaze]

17. I took the decision out of a boss's hands one year

She was not happy.

But the local PD was urging businesses to close down and send their employees home. We were not, in any form, an "essential" business and I was scared about getting home. So I went.

[Blue_Adept]

18. Exactly! Bosses be like...

[blaze]

21. Hahaha!!!! Thanks for those! nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Good lord....

A winter cane, then.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. Actually, ... the storm will bring warmth, for a couple of days.

It basically takes warm air from the Gulf or Gulf Stream to generate large amounts of precipitation.

There are cooler storms from the Pacific but they are kind of wrung out by time they make it East.

[Hortensis]

12. This sounds like it may kill a lot of nice shrubs and trees

over large areas. If there were some great new technology start-up for taking down millions of trees dying each year from climate change I'd invest in it, but any good company positioning to serve that market will probably do well.

We're in central Florida, and the winter storm advisories extend all the way down to our area. Hopefully, one nice young loquat that's at least growing under the shelter of an old live oak will do okay, even if the other out in the open doesn't. Whatever can't take the extreme weather events due to a weaker jet stream will be replaced with something hardier--heat, drought, deluge, and cold hardier.

[malaise]

14. That's a really stupid and sensational headline

They can warn about serious weather without the fugging fear-mongering bomb shit.

[Blue_Adept]

19. Except that's what it's actually called

It used to simply be that forecasters kept the verbiage very simple for simpleminded folk.

Now they're using more detailed and accurate terms that have been in their lexicon for decades that accurately describes what's going on.

[malaise]

20. Maybe I should stick to Atlantic hurricanes

Never heard the term before

[GulfCoast66]

25. Actually learned today on NPR

That a bombagenesis hurricane is a real thing. A storm that increases in intensity at a phenomenal rate. I have lived in hurricane country most of my life and never heard that.

Who knew

[malaise]

27. Read it on Weather Underground earlier today

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. Except it is not.

TV forecasters are lackeys of corporate media so they have to hype it with "bomb" shit.

The more detailed and accurate term is "explosive cyclogenesis", though some meteorologists have used the simpleminded term as a short-hand.

"bomb" is seized upon by sensationalists who feel that mere facts are not enough.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. THIS EXACTLY

No meteorologist calls this phenomena (rapidly intensifying low pressure system) a "bomb cyclone".

[Bernardo de La Paz]

33. Well some TV forecasters style themselves as "meteorologists" because they got a technical degree.

Almost all TV "meteorologists" are technicians at best.

It's not as if they actually do studies and develop models of mechanisms that end up improving weather system computer simulation programs.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. There is a whole academic track for "broadcast meteorology"

With all the tech available now, it's easier for them to throw together a forecast that tends to be "general public oriented" vs "technical" per their station masters.

[Hortensis]

15. Btw, it's named "winter storm Grayson," useful for

googling stories using that term. Part of I-10 in north Florida was closed this morning because of ice from Grayson. Shutting down for a little ice'd be a joke farther north, of course.

[jpak]

16. It's tracking farther west than earlier models

Eastern Maine has a Blizzard Warning in effect for tomorrow morning.

Power outages are going to be lethal in these temps.

I hope everyone takes this seriously.

[snooper2]

22. bombogenesis sounded like a made-up word, and is...Wiki shows Explosive cyclogenesis

Sounds much cooler


Explosive cyclogenesis (also referred to as a weather bomb,[1][2][3] meteorological bomb,[4] explosive development,[1] or bombogenesis[5][6][7]) refers in a strict sense to a rapidly deepening extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area. To enter this category, the central pressure of a depression at 60° latitude is required to decrease by 24 mb (hPa) or more in 24 hours.[8][9]

[suffragette]

28. Scary weather. Be well DUers and maybe check

On neighbors now to help them stock up for storm.

[Atman]

35. Got wood, liquor, beer, water...

We live on a lake in CT. Usually we just scoop out water if the power goes out (well) . But it’s frozen solid after a week of sub-freezing temps. I’m stocked up for this one. It’s only going to be a day or two, but then we get -11 for the weekend. Why do I live here?