A Nor'easter 'Bomb Cyclone' Threatens The East Coast With Weekend Snow & Powerful Winds
Winter is coming for the northeastern U.S.
A bomb cyclone is threatening to hit the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada on Friday, and there's a chance that it could ruin plenty of weekends if it sticks around.
The U.S. National Weather Service warns that a winter storm could get supercharged over the Atlantic Ocean before it hits the East Coast, although forecasters still aren't certain whether it will happen.
"This strong coastal storm may cause heavy snow in the coastal Mid-Atlantic region with higher confidence for heavy snow over the Northeast, where high winds and coastal impacts are also likely through the weekend," stated the NWS's Weather Prediction Center on Wednesday.
The storm is set to start over the Atlantic Ocean on Friday night and work its way toward the coast, where it will likely move from North Carolina up through New York. By the looks of the NWS's map, those who live in New England may get hit the hardest by the bomb cyclone.
While meteorologists are currently trying to figure out just how much snow will fall, the NWS reported that cities along Interstate-95 will get about 8-12 inches of snow, if not more. Some cities might even experience hurricane-level wind gusts of 50 mph or more.
Unfortunately, it is still too early to tell just how bad the bomb cyclone is going to be. According to the National Weather Service of Boston, computer predictions are typically most accurate 48 hours prior to a storm. Anything over and there is a large margin of error.
You may be scratching your head thinking, "Well that sounds bad but what exactly is that?"
Meteorologists say a bomb cyclone is when warm air and cold air merge together and the pressure drops by a certain amount super quickly, hence the name "bomb."
It's kind of like how a tornado forms with hot and cold air mixing until they eventually start spinning around each other. Now add a snowstorm to the mix and make it big enough to cover the East Coast.
As we move into the weekend, those who live in New England can expect more information from their local weather service as to how severe the storm will be in their region.
Bundle up, have those shovels on standby and stay warm this weekend!