What is Bombogenesis?

Only a few weeks after the polar vortex surged through portions of the United States, yet another wintry weather phenomena is mounting concerns across the nation: bombogenesis.

As a snowstorm bears down on regions from the mid-Atlantic up through New England, the term bombogenesis has come to the forefront, but what is bombogenesis?

"It's a rapidly intensifying storm that is usually over the water," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.

In order for the storm to develop, a warm and a cold air mass must clash, causing the storm to strengthen in a very short amount of time.

While this scenario is not necessarily uncommon during the winter months, in order to be classified as a bombogenesis the central pressure of the storm must drop 24 millibars in just 24 hours, according to Anderson.

The impacts of a bombogenesis can include rapidly strengthening winds and high precipitation rates, as well as thundersnow.

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