So What Exactly Is A Bomb Cyclone?

As winter weather bears down on the Jersey Shore, we are hearing the phrase 'bomb cyclone' a lot. So, exactly what is a 'bomb cyclone'?

It seems each winter we are learning a new weather phrase we wish we never knew about. Do you remember the good old days when most of us never heard of a polar vortex?

The current storm we are dealing with has us hearing about a bomb cyclone, and that sounds pretty scary, so let's get the definition of that for you.

A bomb cyclone, more scientifically known as an 'bombogenesis' (no less scary sounding), was clearly defined by Dan Zarrow in a blog today...

–Bomb: Absolutely appropriate. Short for bombogenesis, a technical weather process that occurs when a storm’s central barometric pressure drops at least 24 millibars in less than 24 hours. Such a cyclone intensifies, leading to heavier precipitation and stronger winds. This storm is expected to undergo such intensification just after it passes New Jersey — New England and eastern Canada are in trouble.

One of the effects of all of this could be that the scenario will trap frigid temperatures over the Atlantic Coast for the rest of the week, according to time.com, and Dan Zarrow's forecast certainly seems to show exactly that

So, we can now add 'bomb cyclone' to the Jersey Shore's list of weather vocabulary we wish we never heard of, and never want to hear about again.

You can stay up to date on the latest New Jersey weather by checking in with Meteorologist Dan Zarrow's Weather Blog.

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