What exactly is a “bomb cyclone?”

The ominous name "bomb cyclone" comes from a process called explosive cyclogenesis, or bombogenesis, in which a weather system undergoes a rapid drop in pressure.

Bombogenesis occurs "when a midlatitude cyclone rapidly intensifies, dropping at least 24 millibars over 24 hours," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

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A millibar measures atmospheric pressure. A drop in pressure in a system equals strengthening of the system.

Think of it as a winter hurricane.

Such weather systems in the northern hemisphere are centers of low pressure. When the pressure drops, the storms get stronger. When they drop in such a dramatic fashion over a short period of time, the results are equally dramatic.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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