Bomb cyclone' knocks out power, disrupts travel in central US

The storm knocked out power Wednesday to thousands of homes and businesses in South Dakota.

Business Standard : A storm system known as a "bomb cyclone" slowly churned through the US interior Thursday for the second time in a month, unleashing a blizzard that struck the Upper Midwest and creating hazardous fire conditions farther south.

The storm knocked out power Wednesday to thousands of homes and businesses in South Dakota, disrupted air and ground travel from Colorado to Minnesota and threatened to swell rivers in the Midwest that flooded after March's drenching.

Both storms are known as a "bomb cyclone," a weather phenomenon that entails a rapid drop in air pressure and a storm strengthening explosively, said David Roth, a forecaster at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.

The latest storm's impacts are likely to be similar to last month's storm , Roth said. That blast dropped heavy snow and led to massive flooding in the Midwest that caused billions of dollars in damage in Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and South Dakota.

"Hopefully this time it will be a slow snowmelt," Roth said.

Particularly hard hit by the storm were eastern South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota, where up to 2 feet (0.61 meters) of snow was expected to fall, the National Weather Service said. Winds in excess of 50 mph (80.46 kph) also were expected, creating life-threatening conditions.

"We're calling it historic because of the widespread heavy snow. We will set some records," said Mike Connelly, a weather service meteorologist in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Transportation officials closed Interstate 29 from east central South Dakota to the North Dakota border, as well as a 270-mile (434-kilometer) section of Interstate 90 between Rapid City and Mitchell, South Dakota.

Numerous traffic crashes were reported in northeastern South Dakota, and the storm knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses in Sioux Falls.

Officials in Colorado closed a 150-mile (241-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 76 from just northeast of Denver to the Nebraska border, and Gov. Jared Polis activated the National Guard in case troops are needed to rescue stranded motorists. Denver Public Schools announced delayed starts Thursday for some campuses due to weather.