'Bomb Cyclone' Winter Storm Grayson Expected To Undergo Bombogenesis

The first winter storm of the year has made its way up the East Coast of the United States on Wednesday afternoon threatening much of the coastline. The Weather Channel has given the storm the name "Grayson" off of its 2017-18 storm name list.

Parts of Florida and Georgia were the first to see the snow early Wednesday morning when it quickly passed through, leaving a dusting of snow in places like Tallahassee, Florida, which hadn’t seen snow in decades.

The storm was dropping inches of snow in South Carolina, as well, as it moved up the coast first to the mid-Atlantic and then to New England.

The National Weather Service predicts that the storm could undergo "bombogenesis" — a fancy term that means the storm rapidly intensifying over a 24-hour period, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. More specifically, it's when a storm’s central pressure drops at least 24 millibars during that time.

Grayson has also been called a "bomb cyclone," a new term some meteorologists have used to describe the hurricane-strength winds that could accompany the snowfall.

The storm was also expected to track closer to the coast than originally predicted, which means it would end up dumping more snow on land than previously forecasted. The closer the storm gets, the more accurate the predictions about it will be.

As of Wednesday afternoon, hazardous conditions were expected for 24 to 36 hours in locations from Georgia all the way up the coastline. Blizzard conditions were in the forecast for those in eastern Long Island and parts of coastal New England, according to NOAA.

Not only will the storm bring snow, it’s also expected to bring strong winds that could cause down trees and possible power outages. Some areas have even been issued warnings of coastal flooding or erosion due to wave action and high tides.

Winter storm, blizzard, and wind chill warnings along with winter weather advisories were all in effect for states along the coast including New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. All of the active alerts can be found on the National Weather Service’s website where they are broken down by county and alert type.

The NWS does not name winter storms, only The Weather Channel does to make the storms easier to talk about and more simple to identify.