Context: Recently, ‘Bomb cyclone’ hit eastern US, which triggered transport chaos and power outages.
What is a Bomb Cyclone?
A bomb cyclone is a large, intense midaltitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
Bomb cyclones put forecasters on high alert, because they can produce significant harmful impacts.
Reasons for the Formation:
This can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters. The formation of this rapidly strengthening weather system is a process called bombogenesis.
It occurs when a midlatitude cyclone rapidly intensifies, dropping at least 24 millibars over 24 hours.
Difference between Bomb Cyclone and a Hurricane
Hurricanes tend to form in tropical areas and are powered by warm seas. For this reason, they’re most common in summer or early fall, when seawater is warmest.
Bomb cyclones generally occur during colder months.
Hurricanes form in tropical waters, while bomb cyclones form over the northwestern Atlantic, northwestern Pacific and sometimes in the Mediterranean Sea.
