Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

US weather latest: 'Bomb cyclone' to strike East coast with snow, ice and strong winds forecast

Stretch of severe winter weather is set to continue

Jeremy B. White
San Francisco
Tuesday 02 January 2018 21:21 EST
Comments
'Bomb cyclone' to strike East coast US with snow, ice and strong winds forecast

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

America’s winter-weary east coast is bracing for the possibility of a formidable storm dubbed a “bomb cyclone”.

Denizens of the Eastern US have already endured freezing temperatures and record snowfall in recent weeks.

Now they could be confronting another extraordinary weather event, a combination of low pressure and high winds that is riveting weather experts.

Flights delayed at Buffalo Airport due to heavy snow amid arctic U.S. weather

“All day Thursday meteorologists are going to be glued to the new GOES-East satellite watching a truly amazing extratopical ‘bomb’ cyclone off New England coast,” meteorologist Ryan Maue said on Twitter.

The confluence of extreme conditions had the National Weather Service warning people to be prepared for a powerful storm.

“In addition to snow and ice accumulations, strong winds could result in considerable blowing & drifting and possibly downed trees and/or power outages,” the National Weather Service said, adding that flooding was also a possibility.

Testifying to the storm’s potentially vast scale, the National Weather Service predicted the worst conditions would encompass an area stretching from the Carolinas to Maine — a distance of hundreds of miles.

“Bitter cold and dangerous wind chills to persist into the weekend,” the forecaster said.

While regions like New England are accustomed to heavy winter weather — temperatures there could plummet to -28C — the weather service in Jacksonville, Florida was warning of rare freezing weather.

“Parts of northern Florida are likely to see a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain from this system Wednesday morning,” meteorologist Jack Sillin wrote in a blog post.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in