What You Need to Know About 'Bombogenesis'

Winter Storm Stella is closing in on the Northeast and so it the requisite hysteria from news and weather sources.

One term starting to be thrown around is 'bombogenesis.'

The word was not just made up today, though it certainly seems that way. 

So here are a few quick facts about 'bombogenesis' to help you make it through the coming winter storm, polar vortex, winter-pocalypse, snowtex or blizzard - whatever you want to call it.


7. Bombogenesis is a combination of the words cyclogenesis and bomb. 

Cyclogenesis describes the formation of a cyclone or a storm. The bomb part means the intensity of the storm abruptly gets worse.


6. Meteorologists say Winter Storm Stella may undergo bombogenesis once its center nears the Atlantic ocean. 

The storm is weakening now over the Midwest but is expected to pick up strength as it nears the ocean.


5. Bombogenesis is not (yet) a term used to describe Beyoncé. 

It is (so far) used only for weather. But you'd be right to expect that to change.

4. Meteorologists began calling some big coastal storms 'bombs' in the 1940s.

This was because coastal storms tend to develop "with a ferocity we rarely, if ever, see over land," according to an MIT professor who used the term in a 1980 article in Monthly Weather Review, reports USA Today.

3. Winter Storm Stella could dump snow at a rate of 2 - 4 inches per hour at the height of its power.

Accumulations are expected in the neighborhood of 12 - 18 inches. Wind gusts will be between 20 and 25 mph.

2. You are encouraged to stay indoors.

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have all announced states of emergency to take effect once the precipitation begins.

1. The Twitterverse cannot wait until after Winter Storm Stella to make #bombogenesis memes.

They are here...

Photo: Getty Images


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