A ‘super-explosive’ bomb…

Image: NOAA.

So apparently our bomb cyclone wasn’t just a “bomb cyclone” but a “super-explosive cyclone.” As the Seattle Times explains:

Pressure dropped 27 millibars in six hours, about four times faster than the rate meteorologists use to label storms as bomb cyclones. It dropped so far and so fast that, under one method of analysis, it landed in a category reserved for the strongest of its kind: A “super explosive cyclone.”

Bomb cyclones are common enough, but rarely form as far south as this one did and gather so much strength so quickly, said Jason Ahsenmacher, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, Alaska.

As far back as the records go, a cyclone this strong hasn’t formed before in this part of the world at this time of year, Ahsenmacher said. It belongs to an upper echelon of low-pressure systems.

We still have more than a quarter of a million people without power and restoration is still reckoned to be some number of days. One friend tells us she’s been told ‘late Saturday’.

The kicker? There’s another storm coming—which given the conditions (the jet stream, the atmospheric river) could also develop into a bomb cyclone. The cherry on top? If it does, it could be worse—because it’s slated to come even closer to the coast.

November really is turning into a super-fun month…