The bomb cyclone, dubbed Winter Storm Elliott by The Weather Channel, that's steadily moving throughout the United States claimed a small fleet of trucks in South Dakota Thursday, with photo evidence showing the large semi-trucks buried under major snow drifts while stationed at a fuel stop.
According to the New York Post, truck drivers in South Dakota were forced to get off the highways after large quantities of blowing snow combined with wind gusts exceeding 60 mph, essentially making the roads untenable.
However, that was merely the beginning of some truckers' troubles.
The stationary trucks started accumulating significant amounts of blowing snow while at the fuel stop — an eerie visual that, at first glance, might resemble the Imperial Walkers battling in the snow from "The Empire Strikes Back."
Click here for the latest photo of the snow-barricaded trucks in South Dakota.
Earlier Newsmax reports had weather officials estimating that as many as 200 million Americans would be directly affected by Winter Storm Elliott.
Various reports have the sweeping storm featuring "arctic cold front dives" from Canada, howling winds, large snow drifts and rising tides (in warmer spots) — covering the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the East Coast and extending across the Plains and to the Deep South and Gulf Coast regions.
The National Weather Service already has publicized reports of Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and South Dakota incurring cold blasts of arctic air.
Some forecasters have characterized Elliott as a once-in-a-generation storm.
Here are three prime examples of the havoc taking place:
- In the city of Dillon, Montana, located in the southwestern corner of the state, temperatures reportedly plunged by more than 26 degrees in a three-minute span Wednesday — after a harsh cold front passed through the area.
- In Casper, Wyoming, the temperature reportedly dropped 43 degrees in a 30-minute span.
- And in Birmingham, Alabama, which has had an National Weather Service forecast center since 2006, the office declared its first-ever "wind chill warning" to the masses living in the state.
A bomb cyclone is a fast-moving storm that also produces atmospheric pressure drops of at least 24 millibars over a 24-hour period, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
"A bomb cyclone occurs when atmospheric pressure at the center of the cyclone drops rapidly. In order to approximately qualify, the pressure needs to drop about 1 [millibar], or more, every hour over a 24-hour period," John Moore, a public affairs specialist and meteorologist for the National Weather Service, told CBS News.
"This can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters," NOAA added.
For those occupying the warm side of Winter Storm Elliott, there are already expectations of "powerful southerly winds and high astronomic tides," which could lead to extensive coastal flooding along the East Coast, according to NOAA.
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