A winter bomb cyclone is expected to bring blizzard conditions across parts of the East Coast from Maryland up through southeastern New England from Sunday night into Monday morning. But what exactly is a blizzard?
A blizzard doesn’t always mean “a lot of snow,” though it can certainly bring heavy snowfalls, as this storm is expected to do along parts of the East Coast. Rather the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as a snowstorm with winds that are regularly at or above 35 miles per hour and “considerable falling” or blowing snow for at least three hours. This weekend’s storm could dump one to two feet of snow in the worst-hit areas, and snowfall rates could reach two to three inches per hour. Wind gusts could reach 40 to 70 mph along the coast from New Jersey through New England.
Blizzard conditions can reduce visibility to less than 0.25 mile, which makes travel especially hazardous. New York City has put a travel ban on its roads starting at 9 P.M. on Sunday night.
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This storm’s winds and heavy, wet snow could also cause power outages by weighing down power lines and tree branches.
Blizzard conditions can develop along the northwest side of a very intense storm, as is the case with this system. This is because the major difference between the low pressure at the storm’s center and an area of higher pressure to the west creates very intense winds. This storm will likely become a bomb cyclone—what a storm is called when it undergoes “bombogenesis,” defined by a large decrease in pressure in 24 hours.