Rain and gusty winds this already-dark, early-evening Tuesday here on California’s north coast — nearly right on predicted time this afternoon, the storm’s leading edge arrived in the neighborhood. First blustery winds, quickly followed by increasingly thick, pelting rain.
Lately and so far, the storm is erupting in episodes with an eerie, nearly-surreal quiet in between peppering rain sheets and strong, whipping wind. Supposedly we’re in for a storm strengthened by what’s called ‘bombogenesis,’ which then creates a ‘bomb cyclone.’
A couple of worrisome weather words..
Here's a satellite look at the "bomb cyclone" that will be moving into the area over the next few hours. Hopefully everyone is prepared for strong, significant storm today! #orwx #cawx pic.twitter.com/hJwblDOEgO
— NWS Medford (@NWSMedford) November 26, 2019
A bit of detail via NPR this afternoon:
Despite those high snow totals, the strongest winter storm is in the far West, where the system is coming in from the Pacific Ocean.
It will start to hit Oregon and Northern California by Tuesday night, the NWS says.
It adds that what could be a record-setting storm system will likely turn into a bomb cyclone — meaning the storm will intensify at an unusually rapid rate.
“This low pressure system will likely undergo bombogenesis (pressure drop of at least 24mb in 24 hours) by late Tuesday afternoon,” the NWS says, “at which point it will likely become a sub-980 mb low with hurricane force winds over the offshore waters!”
Blizzard conditions are expected in the mountains of southern Oregon and Northern California, with high waves and strong winds battering coastal areas as the storm comes in from the Pacific Ocean.
“Wind gusts are forecast to exceed 70 mph” near the coast of Oregon and Northern California, the NWS Weather Prediction Center says.
By late Thursday, the Sierra Nevada range will likely see from 2 to 4 feet of snow.
Wind outside right now sounds like a cyclone, or a tornado — reportedly, this a rare event because there’s a ‘bomb cyclone’ on the West Coast as usually it’s on the Atlantic side of the country (nor’easters – big storms that wallop the East Coast) and not out here.
It does get a little hairy-sounding — hopefully, gentle-like into the tempestuous night…
