This Is The Man To Blame For The Term 'Bomb Cyclone'

LOADING ERROR LOADING The man who helped invent “bomb cyclone” ― the meteorological term used to describe the intense weather system gripping the East Coast right now ― doesn’t use it anymore. When you went somewhere else, it wasn’t used.” Sanders, who died in 2006 at age 83, was a giant of synoptic meteorology ― a field that specializes in large-scale weather events, such as cyclones, fronts and jetstreams ― and is now considered the father of the term “bomb cyclone.” In September 1976, Sanders and Gyakum, a student at the time, began a three-year study on the process of bombogenesis. “If the term itself ― ‘bomb’ ― helps to spur more constructive research,” he said, “then I’m happy.” But not everyone agrees the term’s sudden popularity is so harmless. “It’s important to understand a bomb cyclone has a very specific meaning,” said Marshall Shepherd, director of the University of Georgia’s atmospheric program and a former president of the American Meteorological Society.