This week, the United States will face an unprecedented weather event, a ‘bomb cyclone’ combined with a Category 5 atmospheric river is targeting the country’s West Coast. According to experts, the storm system will unleash around 8 trillion gallons of water, potentially causing wide destruction across several states.
The weather experts expect this week’s bomb cyclone to combine with a Category 5 atmospheric river, making it one of the most powerful storms of its kind. The expected rainfalls are so massive that they may likely cause widespread flash floods, devastating mudslides, and huge destruction of infrastructure. It’s also going to be a storm of intensity, not only with heavy rain but hurricane-force winds too, that would bring power and other types of devastation. As the storm system continues to move inland, mountains will be draped with heavy snow, making it even worse and raising the danger from avalanches.
When will the storm hit?
According to a Washington Post report, a weaker storm that hit the Pacific Northwest over the weekend is shifting east on Monday, and related showery conditions will persist in much of the region through Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon, heavy precipitation and strong wind associated with the developing bomb cyclone and atmospheric river are expected to approach shore. On Tuesday night, the focus of stormy conditions appears to be from Vancouver Island in Canada to around the Oregon-California border.
Heading into Wednesday, the atmospheric river will probably shift its focus slowly southward from southern Oregon into Northern California. At some point, it may come close to stalling or perhaps return north for a time as the large dip in the gyrating jet stream offshore also stalls out. This could deliver days of torrential rainfall.
What is a bomb cyclone?
The term “bomb cyclone” comes from the real meteorological term “bombogenesis.” It describes a storm system that explodes in strength, specifically dropping by at least 24 millibars in pressure or more over the span of 24 hours, according to FOX News Meteorologist Abby Acone. This potent storm could do that and more. In fact, one of the weather models FOX 13 Seattle analyzed Monday shows the storm plunging by about 50 millibars or more between Monday evening and Tuesday. The bigger the pressure difference in weather systems, the stronger the winds can be. Think of a powerful vacuum that’s sucking all the surrounding air into it. Bomb cyclones can produce hurricane-force winds and are often accompanied by a heavy atmospheric river, which brings moisture from the tropics, leading to torrential rain and snow in mountain regions.
