美国国家公共电台 NPR Scientists Warn 'Bomb Cyclone' Brings Strong Winds, Cold Temperatures

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The winter storm hitting the East Coast today is part of a pattern of weather over a number of days. It had a prologue¹, and it's going to have an epilogue, too. So let's talk it all through in sequence. What comes before a bomb cyclone² - the storm itself - and what comes after for much of the country? NPR's science reporter Rhitu Chatterjee has been tracking the storm. She's in our studios. Good morning.

RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE³: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: OK, so what was the preliminary to all of this?

CHATTERJEE: So the extremely cold temperatures that much of the U.S., especially eastern part of the country, has been experiencing over the past 10 days was one of the key ingredients for this storm. These cold temperatures were caused by really cold air, what scientists call jet streams, coming down from up north into most of the country. And when that air moved further south and met warm, moist air over the Atlantic, it caused a dramatic drop in air pressure, which is what scientists called a bomb cyclone.

INSKEEP: OK, so this cold air that my mom felt in Indiana, single digits⁴, or in upstate New York or here in Washington D.C. where it was in the teens, that is one of the ingredients of this bomb cyclone.

CHATTERJEE: One of the key ingredients, yeah.

INSKEEP: Hits some warmer air coming up from the Caribbean or wherever. And what is a bomb cyclone as opposed to any other storm?

CHATTERJEE: Well, that's just a scientific term that describes this kind of cyclone that's formed by these two masses of warm and cold air. When they collide, it causes a very, very rapid drop in air pressure, and that's what they call bomb or bombogenesis. It's just a fancy term to describe this dramatic drop in air pressure in a very powerful storm that is going to intensify⁵ as it moves north on the - along the East Coast.

INSKEEP: What kind of effects could we see?

CHATTERJEE: So as we know, parts of the southern U.S. have already gotten snow - parts of the U.S. that don't usually get snow.

INSKEEP: Sure.

CHATTERJEE: But New England is really the region that's going to be really badly affected⁶ because the storm is going to intensify as it goes north. There are going to be very powerful winds, snow, 12 to 18 inches or more. There could be power outages. And people should be thinking about where they could stay warm if they lose power.

INSKEEP: So what's the epilogue, then, to this bomb cyclone?

CHATTERJEE: Well, this storm is going to subside⁷ by tomorrow. But what it's going to do is it's going to pull in more of that cold, frigid⁸ Arctic air over most of the country. So both on the East Coast, the Northeast and big chunks⁹ of the middle of the United States, the Great Lakes region, are going to see very, very frigid temperatures.

INSKEEP: Wait a minute. This super low pressure area, is it kind of like a black hole? It's going to suck air in its direction.

CHATTERJEE: Exactly, exactly.

INSKEEP: And it's going to be Canadian air, really cold air.

CHATTERJEE: Yeah, for many days to come.

INSKEEP: Meaning if I live in the Great Lakes or anywhere else, I'm going to be feeling the effects of this.

CHATTERJEE: Yes. Most of the middle of the country and east of that.

INSKEEP: Hundreds of miles from the coast. So I have to ask, as we do any time there's an extreme weather event like this or something we haven't really heard of, and I think most people hadn't heard of a bomb cyclone before, although I'm sure...

CHATTERJEE: It's pretty common actually.

INSKEEP: ...Meteorologists have. Is climate change any kind of a factor here?

CHATTERJEE: So, you know, scientists have a much better idea of climate change's connection - influence on hurricanes, but with these kinds of winter storms, they really don't know. The models aren't there quite yet, and they don't know whether there is a connection here.

INSKEEP: Well, listen, try to stay warm today, OK?

CHATTERJEE: You too, Steve, thank you.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Rhitu Chatterjee.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE CALM BLUE SEA'S "NOW THOSE ASHES ARE AT THE BOTTOM")

1 prologue   

n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕

参考例句：

• A poor wedding is a prologue to misery.不幸的婚姻是痛苦的开始。
• The prologue to the novel is written in the form of a newspaper account.这本小说的序言是以报纸报道的形式写的。

2 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

8 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

9 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？