In Pictures
In Pictures: Stormy ‘weather bomb’ hits UK
The country is bracing for storm force winds, snow and mountainous seas as a low pressure system moves in.
Published On 10 Dec 2014
The UK is starting to experience a period of severe weather, with northwestern areas likely to bear the brunt of the developing storm.
The storm itself has been termed a ‘weather bomb’, making it sound extremely dangerous. If fact, such terms are rarely used by UK meteorologists, but the media seem to have picked up on the term on this occasion.
The ‘bomb’ derives from the meteorological term, ‘explosive cyclogenesis’. This occurs when cold, dry air from the stratosphere feeds into a developing area of low pressure.
Other factors, such as the position of the jet stream blowing across the Atlantic, combine to produce a rapid and extreme deepening of the low pressure centre.