Atmospheric Pressure Has Entered 'Bomb' Territory And Now It's About To Get Insanely Cold

A heavy snowstorm and dangerously cold temperatures gripped the northeastern United States on Friday, dumping up to two feet of snow in some places.

Meteorologist Eric Holthaus described the ferocity of the storm system as a "weather bomb," accompanied by a drop of 26 millibars. The lower the pressure, the stronger the winds.

From the The Daily Beast:

The particularly intense nor'easter that spawned this blizzard has officially entered 'bomb' territory-a technical meteorological definition meaning a rapid deepening of a low pressure system by more than 24 millibars in 24 hours (also, designed to frighten little children into a lifetime of snowy terror). Our blizzard-y friend achieved this mark with room to spare, intensifying from 1012 millibars Thursday morning to 986 millibars at press time, a mere 20 hours later.

So far, that's been enough to produce tropical storm conditions (sustained 39 mph winds or higher) just offshore New Jersey, New York, and New England for much of the overnight hours.

Forecasts are calling for record-low temperatures on Tuesday morning due to mass of cold air sweeping down from the North Pole, according to Holthaus.

Near-record low temperatures forecasted for much of the eastern 2/3rds of the country on Tuesday morning: pic.twitter.com/4mDMpNpVsp

- Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) January 3, 2014