A bomb cyclone hit Virginia. Climate change helps explain why

Warming temperatures can still fuel extreme cold and disruptive winter storms across Virginia

Across Virginia, residents woke up last week to a state of emergency extension, another round of snow-covered roads, school closures, and power outages—even as communities were still digging their way out of another storm.It was the second major winter weather hit in a matter of days.

Over the weekend, a storm system rapidly intensified into what meteorologists call a “bomb cyclone” and barreled up the East Coast, leaving heavy snow, fierce winds, and dangerous travel conditions from the Carolinas into New England. In parts of the state, snowfall reached nearly a foot, marking this storm as one of the most significant winter events in recent memory.

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The storm followed closely behind Winter Storm Fern, leaving little time for recovery. Across the Commonwealth, Virginians saw up to 13 inches of snow and icy roads contributed to more than 300 crashes statewide, according to Virginia State Police, while multiple school systems across Central Virginia closed or shifted to virtual instruction due to hazardous conditions.

What makes a “bomb cyclone?”

A bomb cyclone isn’t a hurricane and it isn’t a typical snowstorm. It’s a term used by weather experts to describe a rapidly strengthening low-pressure storm. It’s also one whose central pressure drops by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours—a process the National Ocean Service calls “bombogenesis.” The result is a potent mix of high winds, heavy precipitation, and rapidly changing conditions.

READ MORE: Virginia declares state of emergency for weekend winter storm, threatens power and travel

How climate change fits into this storm

Climate change does not cause individual storms on its own, but scientists say it influences how often they happen and how intense and disruptive storms become.

According to climate scientists interviewed by The New York Times, a warming Arctic may be altering the jet stream, the fast-moving band of winds that usually keeps cold air locked near the North Pole. The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth, and that warming appears to weaken the jet stream, allowing cold Arctic air to dip farther south more often and linger longer than it once did.

“When we have a weak temperature gradient between the Arctic and mid-latitudes, the result is weaker winds,” Timo Vihma, a polar meteorology expert at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told the NYT.

Those weaker winds can cause the jet stream to become wavier, more like a looping ribbon than a straight line, increasing the likelihood of prolonged cold snaps in places like the Southeast. That same pattern can also fuel powerful storms when Arctic air collides with warmer, moisture-rich air over the Atlantic, creating conditions to make bomb cyclones possible.

Power outages and infrastructure stress

Virginia’s electric system is served by a mix of utility companies, including Appalachian Power Company, Dominion Energy, and local electric cooperatives, each responsible for restoring service across different regions of the state.

While many Virginians were still without power from the previous storm, power outages from the bomb cyclone were limited but uneven across the Commonwealth. At the height of the storm, a little over a thousand homes were without power according to Power Outage US, with Lynchburg reporting the highest number of outages. Smaller clusters of outages were reported in Newport News, Fairfax, Roanoke City, and parts of Southwest Virginia.

Consecutive storms like Fern and this bomb cyclone magnify those vulnerabilities, straining aging infrastructure and limiting the time utility companies have to fully restore and reinforce the grid between events.

A bigger pattern, not just bad timing

For Virginia, the back-to-back arrival of Winter Storm Fern and this bomb cyclone offered a clear warning that winter weather is becoming less predictable, more disruptive, and harder to recover from. Meteorologists say a warming climate does not eliminate extreme cold—it can intensify it. That means storms like these could become more frequent, with fewer breaks in between for communities, schools, and infrastructure to catch up.