A formidable bomb cyclone is churning off the Western U.S.
The comma-shaped storm is a suped-up mid-latitude cyclone, which is quite different than the tropical cyclones (like hurricanes) that form near the equator and are fueled by extremely warm waters. Instead, mid-latitude cyclones are much larger (some 900 to over 3,000 miles in diameter) than tropical cyclones, and form near the boundaries of the frigid poles and the warmer air of the mid-latitudes. These converging air masses create...