Bomb Cyclone Packs High Winds, Snow, Blizzard

W​inter Storm Elliott intensified right into a bomb cyclone close to the Great Lakes, bringing excessive winds, snow and blizzard circumstances from the Northern Plains to western and upstate New York.

(​MORE: Brutally Cold Air Arrives With Elliott)​

H​ere’s a have a look at the place the storm is now and what’s to come back.

H​appening Now

S​now could be falling proper now across the Great Lakes. Blizzard circumstances proceed throughout the Midwest the place snowfall from the sky has stopped however robust winds proceed.

(​LIVE UPDATES: Elliott’s Widespread Impacts)

Friday morning, E​lliott met the criterion to be considered a bomb cyclone, an space of low stress that intensifies quickly.

(​MORE: What Is A Bomb Cyclone?)

Winds are nonetheless gusting over 30 mph, at occasions over a broad space of the Plains, Midwest and South behind the arctic chilly entrance. That’s producing areas of b​lowing and drifting snow, making journey hazardous even in areas the place falling snow has ended.

B​lizzard warnings stay in impact for components of the Great Lakes, as illustrated by the pink polygons within the map under.

W​inter storm warnings and winter climate advisories are in impact from the higher Midwest to the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.

T​ravel needs to be prevented in lots of of those areas because it may develop into tough or unattainable. That’s not simply due to the snow, but additionally robust winds and excessive chilly.

F​orecast Timing

S​aturday

B​y Saturday, the storm will transfer away into jap Canada, however robust winds will possible linger in a lot of the Great Lakes, higher Mississippi Valley and components of the Northeast. Those winds blowing over the Great Lakes will produce bands of heavy lake-effect snow that might final into Christmas Day within the jap Great Lakes.

Also, lingering areas of blowing and drifting snow are anticipated exterior the lake snowbelts within the Midwest the place snow fell the last few days.

The strongest winds from this storm are anticipated via early Saturday within the Midwest and alongside the East Coast from New England to Georgia Friday.

T​hese winds will likely be able to downing tree limbs and knocking out energy, significantly the place they mix with snow accumulations weighing down bushes and energy strains within the Midwest and East. Plan forward now for the potential for power outages in cold weather in the event you stay in these areas.

H​ow Much More Snow?

T​he heaviest snow totals will likely be on the jap aspect of every of the Great Lakes into the weekend, with whole snowfall totals within the a number of toes vary within the Lake Michigan, Superior, Erie and Ontario snowbelts of western and northern Michigan, western New York and upstate New York, together with a lot of Michigan, Buffalo and Watertown.

Winter Storm Elliott Archive

W​inter Storm Elliott was a cross-country storm that had its origins within the Pacific Northwest, however actually intensified within the Great Lakes. In reality, it grew to become a bomb cyclone.

Elliott led to a widespread chilly outbreak that encompassed all the jap two-thirds of the nation, however even led to a chilly air intrusion in Washington and Oregon that led to the formation of Winter Storm Fernando.

E​lliott additionally produced widespread damaging wind gusts and coastal/lakeshore flooding.

H​ere are some quick info about Elliott:

-​ 18 individuals died from Oregon to New York, lots of that are the results of automobile accidents. 3- Oklahoma; 1-Nebraska: 3-Kansas; 1-Oregon; 2-Kentucky; 1-Missouri; 5 Ohio; 2-New York.

-​ At one level on Christmas Eve, more than 1.6 million customers lost power on the East Coast. At factors throughout the storm, the Tennesee Valley Authority and Duke Energy created rolling backouts to scale back vitality calls for.

-​ More than 5,700 flights had been canceled into or out of the United States attributable to Elliott or Fernando earlier than Christmas.

S​torm Summary

W​inter Storm Elliott started within the Pacific Northwest on Dec. 20, bringing the Cascades as much as two toes of snow.

I​n Washington State, snow coated roads and plunged temperatures. Interstate 90 was closed at Snoqualmie Pass. Temperatures dropped into the teens and 20s on Dec. 21. Wind chills dropped into the single digits in Seattle.

I​n Oregon, slick roads possible led to one fatality on I-84 in northern parts of the state east of Portland.

O​n Dec. 21, Elliott quickly dropped via the Rockies and into the Plains.

C​rashes had been reported on snowy or icy roads from Oklahoma to Minnesota. Several wrecks occurred in Wichita and Salina, Kansas, in icy circumstances. Flights started to get canceled from Denver to Chicago.

Temperatures plunged by 30-50 levels in Colorado and Wyoming as Elliott introduced arctic air southward. Denver set a file for the most important plunge in a single hour – 37 degrees – after which dipped to minus 24 degrees early on Dec. 22. That’s a temperature solely seen as soon as in a technology. ​U​p to a foot of snow fell within the Colorado Rockies, as properly.

We talked about earlier that this winter storm grew to become a bomb cyclone.

A​s a rule of thumb, meteorologists seek advice from a strengthening low as “bombing out” or present process bombogenesis if its minimal floor stress drops by a minimum of 24 millibars in 24 hours or much less, although that standards additionally depends upon a storm’s latitude.

Meteorologists continuously talk about stress when it comes to millibars, somewhat than inches of mercury.

The motive this all issues past only a geeky statistic is the decrease the stress in a storm, the extra intense it’s. And the larger distinction in stress over an space, the stronger the winds.

(​MORE: What Is A Bomb Cyclone?)

W​inter Storm Elliott’s middle may plunge to a stress that might threaten December low-pressure records in eastern Ontario, in keeping with information compiled by NOAA Weather Prediction Center meteorologist David Roth.

Nevertheless, this mixture of wind, snow, chilly, snow squalls and flash freezes has develop into a significant journey headache.

T​he strongest wind gusts hammered components of New England and the Great Lakes, the place some gusts over 70 mph have been clocked.

Among these had been a 79 mph gust clocked by a New York State mesonet station on the Skyway in downtown Buffalo, a 75 mph gust off the coast of Maine south of Acadia National Park, and a 71 mph gust in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

T​hese winds produced whiteout circumstances in Buffalo, with a rarely-measured “zero visibility” observation at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport Friday, ultimately forcing the airport to shut.

I​n the higher Midwest and Northern Plains, snow has lengthy since ended, however robust winds produced floor blizzard circumstances a day after the snow ended with appreciable blowing and drifting snow, particularly in outlying areas.

E​lliott additionally introduced important Great Lakes lakeshore flooding, coastal flooding to components of the Northeast seaboard, and harmful journey impacts from a flash freeze to components of the South and East.

T​he speedy strengthening allowed for excessive modifications on Lake Erie.

T​he robust winds brought on a seiche on Lake Erie. Lakeshore flooding and excessive waves occurred on the lake’s jap finish close to Hamburg, New York, whereas on the western finish, water ranges reached their lowest levels on record.

If that wasn’t sufficient, robust winds coupled with Friday’s excessive tide pushed water ashore alongside components of the Eastern Seaboard, from the Mid-Atlantic coast to Maine.

Water ranges reached main flood stage alongside components of the Jersey Shore, together with Sandy Hook.​ Serious flooding was reported in Queens, Cape Cod, and alongside the coast of Maine.

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