The amount of pressure loss within the low-pressure mass must be at least 24 millibars in 24 hours to be considered a bomb cyclone. As a result, the gradient between the two air masses, or pressure differential, increases quickly, strengthening the winds. Bombogenesis is the name given to this process of fast intensification. Despite the fact that this type of storm is not particularly uncommon, this one is highly powerful and has high winds that are causing heavy snow or rain to fall in numerous regions.
A cyclonic effect is created by the earth's rotation and the wind's movement. It is anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, when viewed from above. All of the elements for a bomb cyclone were present over the Great Lakes, as the meandering polar vortex collided with unusually warm air to the east.
As a severe storm weakened near the Great Lakes, it sparked blizzard conditions, including intense winds and snow, due to the rapid drop in atmospheric pressure.
From the Canadian Great Lakes to the Rio Grande at the Mexican border, there may be extreme weather. Around 60% of the US population was under some kind of winter weather alert or warning as temperatures plummeted sharply below average from east of the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians.
Eventually, as the Arctic air warms and covers the majority of the US, the pressure differential will be smaller. The storm will lose strength. Additionally, predictions point to above-average temperatures for the majority of the country next week.
