The 'Bomb Cyclone' Has Detonated! Whiteout Storm Hits the Northeast With Heavy Snow and Hurricane Force Winds

RSS

January 4, 2018

High winds and heavy snow barreled into the U.S. Northeast on Thursday, closing schools and government offices and disrupting travel as work crews scrambled to clear roads before plummeting temperatures turn snow into treacherous ice.

Via DailyMail.com:

The Northeast is currently being battered by a severe winter storm that started early Thursday morning
Forecasters say a rapid plunge in pressure has caused a 'bomb cyclone' system of fast heavy snowfall and winds up to 76 mph
The storm has caused traffic chaos as plows work around-the-clock to try and keep roads clear
More than 3,700 flights in and out of the U.S. today have been cancelled thanks to the storm
All flights in and out of JFK and LaGuardia Airports in New York City have been temporarily suspended
Schools were ordered closed in New York, many parts of New Jersey, Boston and elsewhere in the region
More than a foot of snow was forecast for Boston and about eight inches in New York City
Temperatures are expected to stay well below freezing throughout the weekend, with parts of New England registering temperatures colder than Mars
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for several counties
Meanwhile, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina continue to dig out of the rare winter storm that hit them Wednesday

The satellite imagery of this storm is cray. Are people still saying "cray?" I don't care.... this is cray.#BombCyclone pic.twitter.com/EWazcV5KJZ
— Angela Fritz ⛈ (@angelafritz) January 4, 2018

The NOAA satellite, GOESEast, shows the view of the 'bomb cyclone' as it batters the East Coast with heavy snow and strong winds on Jan. 4, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT). NOAA/Twitter

Thousands of flights were canceled, snow plows and salt trucks were omnipresent on roads and highways, and commuters who braved the storm to head in to their jobs hoped they would be able to make it home safely as the storm intensified later in the day.

Blizzard warnings were in place along the coast from North Carolina to Maine, with the National Weather Service forecasting winds as high as 70 miles per hour that may bring down tree limbs and knock out power.

More than a foot of snow was forecast for Boston and coastal areas in northern New England. About eight inches are expected in the New York City area.

The storm is the product of a rapid plunge in barometric pressure that some weather forecasters are referring to as bombogenesis or a 'bomb cyclone,' which brings fast heavy snowfall and high winds.

The cold has been blamed for at least nine deaths over the past few days, including two homeless people in Houston.

More than 3,000 airline flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled ahead of the storm's arrival on Thursday. At New York's three major airports and Boston's Logan International, as many as three out of four flights were called off, according to tracking service FlightAware.com.