Bomb cyclone

Why in News:

• Recently, ‘Bomb cyclone’ hits eastern US, which triggers transport chaos, outages.

What is a Bomb Cyclone?

• A bomb cyclone is a large, intense mid-latitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
• Bomb cyclones put forecasters on high alert, because they can produce significant harmful impacts.

Reasons for the Formation:

• This can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters. The formation of this rapidly strengthening weather system is a process called bombogenesis.
• It occurs when a midlatitude cyclone rapidly intensifies, dropping at least 24 millibars over 24 hours. A millibar measures atmospheric pressure.

How does a Bomb Cyclone differ from a Hurricane?

• Hurricanes tend to form in tropical areas and are powered by warm seas. For this reason, they’re most common in summer or early fall, when seawater is warmest.
• Bomb cyclones generally occur during colder months because cyclones occur due to cold and warm air meeting. During the summer, there’s generally not much cold air across the atmosphere; this means a bomb cyclone is much less likely to occur.
• Hurricanes form in tropical waters, while bomb cyclones form over the northwestern Atlantic, northwestern Pacific and sometimes the Mediterranean Sea.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Which of the following statements is/are correct regarding ‘bomb cyclone’?

1. It is a large, intense mid-latitude storm that has high pressure at its center

2. Bomb cyclones generally occur during colder months

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer