WASHINGTON, Dec 25: Large swathes of the US has been battered by a strongest-ever
winter storm called 'bomb cyclone', bringing down temperatures to below freezing
point and causing widespread travel disruption leading to a washout of Christmas
festivities. Twenty two people have died.
It was the coldest Christmas Eve in the US in recent memory.
Medical and other emergencies are helpless as they cannot reach those in distress
with the roads going under the snow.
As the storm lashed across most of the country bringing alongwith blizzards,
freezing rain and floods, power supply to around 1.9 million homes and offices
were snapped on Saturday. The New England States, Pennsylvania and North Carolina
were the most affected. There was coastal flooding. It was a white- out in Minnesota,
Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan too.
The severe winter storm was caused by the blast of the cycle of cold wind around
the north pole vortex by the warm winds from the Atlantic in the south and a
consequent low atmospheric pressure across the land mass, said to be caused by
climate change.
The National Weather Service has given "one of the greatest extents of winter
weather warnings and advisories ever" to 200 million people or 60 per cent of
the US population.
From the Great Lakes near Canada to Texas or down Mexican border and from the
Appalachian mountains along the east coast to the Rockies mountains along the
west end was battered by the storm. There is a threat of inundated areas in
the north-east getting frozen. "A dangerously cold wind chills across much of
the central and eastern US" has been forecast.
According to FlightAware, over 7,000 flights were delayed and 3,000 flights
cancelled. Visibility was near-zero. Road travel too has become hazardous. There
were deaths due to pile-ups and crashes at many places in the past few days.
Governor Kathy Hochul was, as usual, quick to declare a state of emergency
in New York and close some airports like the one in Baffalo as a precaution.
In the January 2014 polar vortex, temperatures had tumbled to -50 deg C (-
58F).
What is a 'bomb cyclone'
A 'bomb cyclone', caused by what is termed in meteorology as “bombogenesis”,
is a quickly intensifying cold storm that occurs when air pressure drops within
a day cycle. It will have a devastating effect. In this phenomenon, a warm air
mass collides with a cold one. In the present case of the unprecedented snow
storm over North America, the Atlantic warm winds collided with the circling
cold wind around the vortex of the north pole, blasting off the 'bomb cyclone'
towards the land mass where the atmospheric pressure has gone down because of
the formation of the warm oceanic winds.
Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson, who opened a new chapter in
space age last month by launching the first manned private flight
to the edge of space, flying in his own spaceplane, has
invited everyone to join his expedition of space travel and
experience the thrill of totally losing your weight (BMI = 0) and enjoy
the mind-blowing sight of the earth's curvatures from the orbit far above: 
Can we ask the vaccinator, "Do you pull back the plunger and
then push the vaccine? Do you Aspirate?" When the vaccination
for covid started there were reports of worrisome incidents of
adverse events post immunisation, the serious complaints being
non-specific blood clots. These related to viral vector vaccines of
human and non-human source: AstraZeneca and Janssen. How
did it happen. There are various views. But here is a suggestion
how simply it can be prevented. 
While the rationalists debunk the episode as a ploy to make up for
the losses in offerings during the corona lockdown, the believers
stick to their claim, they have seen it after all! The claim of
Shankaralinga temple resembles the miracle of Ganesha drinking
milk in Delhi way back in 1995. Although they belong to two
different branches of science. 
A pair of socks gifted to her by her niece displayed on her legs has done
the job for Gumball Poodle. The demand for 'Future is Female' is
skyrocketing indeed. What more could one ask for?
