What do meteorologists mean when they call a storm a bomb cyclone? It describes a type of low-pressure storm that rapidly drops in pressure. The barometric pressure decreases 1 degree an hour in a 24 hour period.
Lower pressure equates to higher winds wrapping counterclockwise into the low. This can occur in both hurricanes and winter storms like the nor’easter moving up the East Coast this weekend.
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The change in temperature between the warm Gulf Stream and the cold air flowing into the Atlantic drives the rapid pressure drop in a process called bombogenesis.
This weekend, the pressure is expected to plunge from about 1013 mb east of Jacksonville to 965 mb — 31 mb — from Friday night to Saturday night once it passes by Massachusetts.
The storm will send high winds and up to 2-4 feet of snow to coastal sections of New England and over a foot along the mid-Atlantic states.
The cold northerly flow along the backside will push Arctic air south into Florida with a hard freeze expected Sunday morning down into the mid-20s.