A large winter storm could develop into a so-called bomb cyclone over the Midwest later this week and bring blizzard conditions, which will likely cause widespread travel disruptions.
A bomb cyclone is when a storm system’s pressure drops 24 millibars in 24 hours, or at the rate of 1 millibar per hour, in a process known as bombogenesis. According to the Weather Channel, it could develop over the Great Lakes region.
“A surge of Arctic air behind a cold front crossing the U.S. through the week will bring widespread, dangerous wind chill temperatures through much of the central U.S. and a potential flash freeze from the mid-South to the East Coast,” according to a National Weather Service (NWS) bulletin. “A major winter storm will form on this front bringing heavy snow and high winds creating blizzard conditions for parts of the Plains into the Great Lakes.”
Along with the bitterly cold air, “snow is likely to add to the pre-holiday travel headaches from the central Plains to the Midwest and Great Lakes,” the NWS said. “Areas of light to moderate snow are likely along and behind the cold front as it impacts central Plains and Upper Mississippi Valley on Wednesday and Thursday.”
Automotive group AAA predicts that about 112 million Americans are expected to travel over Christmas weekend, starting Friday. About 102 million are expected to drive, while some 7.2 million are expected to travel by plane, according to AAA.
As of Tuesday, there have been 361 canceled and more than 2,000 flights delayed across the country, according to FlightAware.
The storm is expected to dump a large quantity of snow around the Chicago area, home to two major U.S. airports. Major airlines have started to issue waivers due to the pending storm, including United Airlines, JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and Alaska Airlines, according to reports.
“The roads in most of the Chicagoland area will probably be undriveable, and that’s because it’ll still be snowing and the winds are going to be blowing at about 40-50 mph,” meteorologist Rick DiMaio told Block Club Chicago this week. “This is gonna be one of those events where you can easily have 2,000 flights canceled over the course of those two days.”
“In summary, this is still looking to develop as a high end, life-threatening event,” said the Weather Service office in Minneapolis.
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