'Bomb Cyclone' Strikes Central US, Sets Off Severe Storms and Flooding

March 14, 2019 | by Cheryl Kahla

Winds of up to 100 miles per hour are blasting through Central US as the major storm move across the Rockies.

In a storm warning issued by Accuweather minutes ago, the blizzard conditions and damaging winds are affecting several states. A staff writer confirms:

"The storm strengthened over the High Plains on Wednesday with the rate of intensification resulting in bombogenesis, which occurs when the barometric pressure rapidly plummets, crashing more than the 0.71 of an inch threshold in a 24-hour period."

The forecasters got this one right. The #bombcyclone is real and not going anywhere.

-Crashes closed roads across the state
-Cattle are cold
-More than 200,000 are without power, causing many to be trapped in elevators
-Plows are out and about

MORE: https://t.co/7PEiZFpgpb pic.twitter.com/jtMH16DRzG
— CPR News (@CPRNews) March 13, 2019

The storm is passing through Colorado and reaching as far east as Wyoming and as far west as Nebraska.

South Dakota and North Dakota are also affected by what the National Service Weather Prediction Center described as a "cyclone of historic proportions."

At 3:30 pm radar was showing snow across much of north central & northeastern Colorado. The heaviest snow bands are east of Interstate 25 where wind gusts to 70 mph & Blizzard conditions were occurring. West of I-25 light to moderate snow & lighter winds are occurring. #cowx pic.twitter.com/sCeKd67B30
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) March 13, 2019

By Wednesday, the storm's pressure dropped to the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane as gale force winds of 97 miles per hour hit Colorado Springs.

In Wyoming, portions of the Interstate 25 were shut down, and travel was deemed as "impossible." The NWS urged residents to stay off the roads.