US weather latest: 'Bomb cyclone' to strike East coast with snow, ice and strong winds forecast

Stretch of severe winter weather is set to continue

America’s winter-weary east coast is bracing for the possibility of a formidable storm dubbed a “bomb cyclone”.

Denizens of the Eastern US have already endured freezing temperatures and record snowfall in recent weeks.

Now they could be confronting another extraordinary weather event, a combination of low pressure and high winds that is riveting weather experts.

“All day Thursday meteorologists are going to be glued to the new GOES-East satellite watching a truly amazing extratopical ‘bomb’ cyclone off New England coast,” meteorologist Ryan Maue said on Twitter.

The confluence of extreme conditions had the National Weather Service warning people to be prepared for a powerful storm.

“In addition to snow and ice accumulations, strong winds could result in considerable blowing & drifting and possibly downed trees and/or power outages,” the National Weather Service said, adding that flooding was also a possibility.

Testifying to the storm’s potentially vast scale, the National Weather Service predicted the worst conditions would encompass an area stretching from the Carolinas to Maine — a distance of hundreds of miles.

“Bitter cold and dangerous wind chills to persist into the weekend,” the forecaster said.

While regions like New England are accustomed to heavy winter weather — temperatures there could plummet to -28C — the weather service in Jacksonville, Florida was warning of rare freezing weather.

“Parts of northern Florida are likely to see a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain from this system Wednesday morning,” meteorologist Jack Sillin wrote in a blog post.