A bomb cycle hit the west coast of the US

Fotografie:Pixabay

A cyclonic storm forms in a very short time and intensifies due to a rapid drop in pressure. The storm hit Oregon, Washington and California, bringing excessive rainfall and winds of eighty kilometers per hour.

The National Weather Service has made good predictions that continued strong Pacific storm systems will affect the weather on the US West Coast through the end of the work week. A large amount of snow also fell at higher altitudes.

In Washington state, strong winds uprooted trees and caused extensive structural damage. Two trees here unfortunately killed two people. Fallen trees pulled down power lines and in total around six hundred thousand residents were without electricity. Most supplies were soon restored. A total of sixteen thousand outages were reported in California.

The most precipitation fell in southwestern Oregon and northern California. At some stations, even 250 millimeters of rain fell in a single day. The strength of storms is unprecedented around the world this year and is causing more and more damage. A recent study published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Climate found that climate change has increased the strength of Atlantic hurricanes by 18 miles per hour over the past six years.

The three most destructive storms this year, including Beryl, Helene and Milton, have increased as a result of climate change the authors of the study point out. Scientists are sure that the intensity of storms generally causes much more catastrophic damage.

The cyclonic storm affected the western part of the US as well as the western part of Canada. In the province of British Columbia 140,000 residents found themselves without electricity. Winds of 160 kilometers per hour were recorded off Vancouver Island. Overall the storm threatened around seven million residents with strong winds, heavy rainfall and flooding.

Source:AlJazeera/Editorial