‘Bomb Cyclone’ Thrashes the Northwest

A “once in a decade” bomb cyclone thrashed the West Coast of North America on Tuesday, killing two people and leaving a half million without power.

Record-setting: The storm is one of the strongest on record in the Pacific Northwest. Meteorologists classify a storm as a “bomb cyclone” if it drops 24 millibars (units of atmospheric pressure) within 24 hours. This storm dropped over 50 in 18 hours.

A storm this strong occurs only “about once every 10 years,” the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, said.

Conditions: Since Tuesday, an “atmospheric river” has been working its way across British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and now Northern California.

Rainfall between 10 to 20 inches and hurricane-strength winds up to 100 mph have caused major damage throughout the region, felling trees and knocking out power to over 500,000 people. Some ports, highways and schools were shut down.

Two deaths were also reported in Washington:

• On Tuesday, a tree fell on a home, killing a woman.
• Around the same time, another tree fell on a homeless encampment, killing a second woman.

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The conditions are expected to last through Friday, with the Weather Prediction Center warning of “life-threatening flooding” and rock slides for Northern California, as well as blizzard conditions for the Cascade Mountains.

Climate change? Record-breaking storms are becoming more common. America’s Southeast is still cleaning up the historic destruction from Hurricane Helene and Milton, which struck just over a month ago.

Why is America being hit with these storms? Most will say it is because of climate change. Is this true? Or is there another cause?

To understand, read Why ‘Natural’ Disasters?