“A”bomb cycloneA day after killing at least one person and injuring others in Washington, high winds continued to batter the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday, with forecasts calling for more dangerous rain, floods and snow across the region.

The severe storm can be called a winter hurricane and brings with it many dangers, especially in Washington state, where the effects of the storm are felt. Strong winds toppled trees, injured people, blocked roads, destroyed houses and widespread power outages.

The National Weather Service reported that the region faced days of rain, flooding and snow in higher elevations after the bomb cyclone. in question Wednesday. It’s part of an “atmospheric river” that could bring half a meter of rain to some areas.

High winds and fallen trees: A dangerous combination

Strong winds are knocking down trees across Washington, including in Lynnwood, where a woman in her 50s died when a large tree fell on a homeless camp. South County Fire He said Tuesday.

Washington power outage map: Bomb cyclone knocked out power to nearly 600,000 homes and businesses

Two more people were injured when a tree fell on a trailer less than 40 miles away in Maple Valley, firefighters in Puget Sound said. X. One person was quickly rescued, but it took firefighters an hour to save the second, Puget Sound Fire said.

fire department in Bellevue in question Trees fell all over the city, some falling on houses. The ministry warned residents to take shelter on the bottom floor and stay away from windows.

Fallen trees blocked roads in Seattle and left one person trapped in a vehicle. said the fire department.

More than 600,000 people were without power in Washington and 15,000 in California as of Wednesday morning, according to Poweroutage.us. Outages, downed trees and high winds caused at least one school district in Washington to shut down. cancel lessons Wednesday.

More: Bomb cyclones are powerful winter storms. Here’s a visual breakdown of how they’re created.

101 mph winds reported

The National Weather Service warned that wind gusts of up to 60 mph would likely worsen widespread power outages and downed trees, especially in coastal areas where heavy, wet snow accumulated. Wind gusts of 101 mph were recorded by a buoy off the coast of Vancouver Island in Canadian waters, the National Weather Service in Seattle said. in question.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reached 95 mph on Tuesday night. Wind gusts of 53 mph were recorded in Eugene, Oregon.

The weather service said the winds were expected to gradually decrease around noon Wednesday as the very deep low pressure system responsible for the winds, which formed 300 miles off the coast of Washington, moved away from the area. in question.

Seattle residents stay home, brace for power outages

Austin Miller bikes to his retail job in downtown Seattle most of the time, but it was raining hard so he opted to take the bus Wednesday morning. The 30-year-old actor said he took his portable phone charger everywhere this week in case there was a power outage.

Miller went straight home after work Tuesday night and stayed home and watched the new “Dune” television series on HBO to avoid the storm. The wind was howling outside and the lights started flickering around 8 p.m., Miller told USA TODAY. As the night wore on, sirens blared continuously outside the fire station across the street from his home in the city’s International District.

“They have an American flag in front of them, and I saw that flag waving pretty good,” Miller said, describing the wind.

atmospheric river coming

As the bomb cyclone moves away, prolonged heavy rain from an atmospheric river will bring more than 12 inches of rain to Northern California and southwestern Oregon by Friday, possibly causing dangerous flash floods, rockslides and debris flows, the weather service said. A separate low pressure system is expected to strengthen off the Northwest coast on Friday, once again bringing gusty winds, amplifying atmospheric river impacts and increasing the risk of flooding.

Atmospheric rivers, sometimes called “rivers in the sky,” are a major factor in extreme rain and snowfall in the West. They are very similar to surface rivers, but they can carry even more water than the Mississippi River.

Snow levels in the mountains will rise rapidly on Wednesday, making pass-grade travel impossible due to blizzard conditions in the Cascades and far Northern California.

AccuWeather On Tuesday, he warned that the bomb cyclone “will act like a huge rainspout at lower altitudes and a giant snow gun in higher areas.”

“The storm is just getting started,” said Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

“We haven’t had a lot of rain yet, just 2-3 inches over Southwest Oregon and Northern California,” Otto said.

“The biggest increase is on Thursday. We expect 10-15 inches of rain by Friday; 20 inches in some places,” Otto said, noting that the main concerns are southwestern Oregon and Northern California.

More: Washington power outage map: Bomb cyclone knocked out power to nearly 600,000 homes and businesses

What is a bomb cyclone?

A. bomb cyclone A powerful cold-season coastal storm, so named because of its explosive power, is colloquially known as a winter hurricane.

These types of storms go through a process of intensification known as storms. bomb formationThis means a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure, indicating the storm is strengthening, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

bombogenesis A storm is said to occur when the central barometric pressure drops by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. Millibars are a way of measuring pressure. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

Some of the most intense winter storms to hit the nation’s coasts were bomb cyclones.

The word “bombogenesis” is a combination of the words “cyclogenesis,” which describes the formation of a hurricane or storm, and “bomb,” which is pretty self-explanatory.

“This can occur when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters,” NOAA said. “The formation of this rapidly strengthening weather system is a process called bombogenesis, which creates what is known as a bomb cyclone.”

record severe storm

According to Weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce, the storm easily met the criteria for a bomb formation. “This means the pressure drops by 24 or more millibars in 24 hours or less,” he said. online report. “This storm more than doubled those benchmarks.”

In addition, Dolce reported that NOAA’s estimated pressure was as low as 942 millibars, based on 10 PM EST analysis. Weather station. “This is nearly identical to the October 2021 storm (942.5 millibars) for the lowest pressure in nearly 50-year records for the northeastern Pacific region.”

(This story has been updated to add new information.)

Contributor: Claire Thornton, USA TODAY; Reuters

This article first appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Bomb cyclone’ forecast calls for wind, rain and snow amid power outages