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Up to 50m people could be affected by back-to-back bomb cyclones

Up to 50m people could be affected by back-to-back bomb cyclones 2

Damaging winds, hail, isolated tornados, and floods are threating to impact more than 50 million people from California to New York over the weekend and early into next week. 

The back-to-back bomb cyclones are forecasted to create atmospheric rivers. Atmospheric rivers are long narrow regions of moisture in the atmosphere ‘like rivers in the sky’ that release rain or snow to the earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

A storm is considered a bomb cyclone when its minimum air pressure drops 24 millibars or more within 24 hours; this next storm could decrease by 50 millibars potentially becoming a ‘double bomb.’ 

The strongest atmospheric river is expected to leave several inches of rain and possibly feet of snow along the West coast from Saturday night through Tuesday. 

The Pacific Northwest and Central California were just hit by another atmospheric river Thursday and Friday. 

Up to 50m people could be affected by back-to-back bomb cyclones 3

Up to 50m people could be affected by back-to-back bomb cyclones 5

Up to 50m people could be affected by back-to-back bomb cyclones 7

While the heavy rainfall will help combat the intense drought in the region and should end the fire season, it is not anticipated to end the droughts or wildfires. 

The heavy rainfall in the areas recently ravaged by wildfires could lead to flooding and mudslides with evacuation warnings having already been issued in some places. 

Strong winds are also a likely threat along the West coast as forecasters claim they may reach 60 mph. 

The atmospheric river along the West coast is predicted to become a Level 5 out of 5 in the San Francisco Bay area and a Level 3 or 4 in the Pacific Northwest and the rest of California. 

As the storm surges across the country, the low pressures could be recorded at some of the lowest levels the Pacific Northwest has experienced since the 1950s. 

Another storm system has been building up in the Gulf of Mexico with abnormally high temperatures and moisture levels and is expected to strengthen as it moves into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions early next week. 

The Intermountain region through to the Northeast is also expected to experience a storm surge Saturday through early next week. 

Parts of California, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan have been deemed high risk areas for heavy rainfall. 

Sections of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska have been issued Level 2 storm warnings with large hail, strong winds, and isolated tornados being the biggest threats beginning Saturday. 

Up to 50m people could be affected by back-to-back bomb cyclones 9

Up to 50m people could be affected by back-to-back bomb cyclones 11

The likely hood of severe thunderstorms will increase on Sunday as the storm moves towards the East coast. The storm system is expected to reach the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions on Monday.

A level 2 warning has also been issued to Atlanta, Knoxville, Charlotte, and Raleigh for Monday while severe storms are a possibility in some Northeast cities including New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, and Virginia Beach. 

The US has experienced a barrage of extreme weather this year as the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly visible. 

The US intelligence community is sending a unanimous warning about the growing risk that climate change is posing to national security and global stability, a chilling report revealed on Thursday.

All 18 US intelligence agencies signed off on the 27-page report, released in a declassified version by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence after President Joe Biden ordered the government to undergo a climate assessment in January.

It comes just over a week before Biden jets off to Glasgow for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. 

Thursday’s report is the first-ever assessment of its kind and looks into how growing carbon emissions could shift geopolitical power and exacerbate existing conflicts as well as allow new ones to emerge.

The report was issued barely more than a week before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (pictured: Biden addresses the UN General Assembly in September)

The report was issued barely more than a week before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (pictured: Biden addresses the UN General Assembly in September)

In May, Biden issued an executive order requiring development of a comprehensive government-wide climate-risk strategy within 120 days, as well as an annual assessment of climate-related fiscal risks as part of the US budget.

‘Intensifying physical effects will exacerbate geopolitical flashpoints, particularly after 2030, and key countries and regions will face increasing risks of instability and need for humanitarian assistance,’ it read.

But even before any significant climate disaster, blame shifting and arguments over how goals outlined in the Paris Climate Accord should be carried out and who should do it will be a source of heightened tensions.

‘The cooperative breakthrough of the Paris Agreement may be short lived as countries struggle to reduce their emissions and blame others for not doing enough,’ it states.

Countries would then turn against one another to compete for thinning resources and dominance over new technologies.

The physical effects of climate change would also lead to more mass migration as vast swaths of the world become uninhabitable.

Climate refugees have already been highlighted as a growing point of concern by a number of global entities, including the United Nations.


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