Bomb cyclone
Recently, A Bomb Cyclone that struck Canada and the United States of America (USA) caused massive devastation, killing more than 50 people.
Bomb cyclone:
- Bomb genesis is a technical term for this type of cyclone. It is often referred to as ‘Bomb Cyclone’ in the media/social media, for the sake of brevity and better usage.
- It is a mid-latitude cyclone that rapidly intensifies in a short period of time.
- It has low air pressure in its center, and can see a variety of weather patterns, from severe weather and blizzards to severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall.
Origin
- Generally, when the atmospheric pressure at the center of a ‘cyclone’ drops by at least 24 mbar in 24 hours, leading to a rapid increase in its intensity, it is called a ‘bomb cyclone’ or similar. Bomb cyclone is generated. The lower the air pressures in the center of the cyclone, the more severe the storm.
How is it different from Hurricane?
- A ‘bomb cyclone’ is essentially a rapidly developing cyclone system, unlike ‘tropical hurricanes’.
- The origin of ‘Tropical Hurricane’ is due to the meeting of warm front and cold front in the mid-latitudes, while for the formation of ‘bomb cyclone’, the turbulent state of ocean water in the last part of summer acts as a stimulus.
- Cold air and fronts are found in bomb cyclones. Cold air cools down hurricanes quickly, while it is a main component of bomb cyclones.
- Bomb cyclones are formed during winter. Hurricane cyclones form between early summer and early winter.
- While the origin of bomb cyclones is between early winters to early summer.
- Bomb cyclones are formed at high latitudes. Hurricane storms form over tropical waters, while ‘bomb cyclones’ originate over the northwestern Atlantic, northwestern Pacific Ocean, and sometimes over the Mediterranean Sea.
Source – The Hindu