Winter storm will spread snow across Rockies, Plains, mid-South before becoming ‘bomb cyclone’ near East Coast

A powerful storm system will bring a variety of weather hazards to a large portion of the US through Saturday

A late-week winter storm will bring snow from the Rockies and Plains to the mid-South, then intensify into a “bomb cyclone” as it tracks up the East Coast with snow and high winds by this weekend.

As a strong upper-level jet stream plunges out of the West on Friday, it will spawn the development of a surface low-pressure system along a cold front in the lower Mississippi Valley. That low will then rapidly strengthen as it tracks toward the Northeast through Saturday.

Meteorologists use the term bomb cyclone to describe a low-pressure system that undergoes “bombogenesis” – defined as a rapid pressure drop of at least 24 millibars in 24 hours or less – indicative of a very intense storm system.

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