Wednesday November 20, 2024
KCRA —
As an atmospheric river is expected to bring heavy rain and mountain snow to California, many are turning to Google to search the term “bomb cyclone.”
But what is that? In short, it’s a rapidly intensifying storm system.
The “bomb” term comes from “bombogenesis” which in the meteorology community is defined as, a storm system that experiences a drop in surface barometric pressure by 24 or more millibars in 24 hours.
Around the immediate cyclone, winds can increase rapidly, and rain or snowfall rates can become intense.
Bomb cyclones are most common in the winter season and occur more frequently off the Northeastern U.S. coast.