New Arctic Cyclone @ 966 Mb - Likely To Be Among Most Powerful On Record

[hatrack]

Weather watchers may be more preoccupied of late with storms popping off in the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Pacific, but a very unusual cyclone also spun up over the Arctic this week—and it could spell more bad news for the region’s ailing sea ice.

The Arctic is no stranger to cyclones, but the latest no-name storm, which emerged in the Kara sea north of Siberia, has garnered attention both for its size and timing. The storm’s central pressure (a measure of its strength) bottomed out Thursday at about 966 millibars, placing it par with the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012, one of the most extreme summertime storms in recent memory. That storm reached a minimum central pressure 963-966 millibars, depending on which analysis you trust.

The new storm’s occurrence in June is also noteworthy. Big cyclones like this don’t normally start hitting the Arctic until late summer. The Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 spun up in August as did a major storm in 2016.

“Preliminarily, this storm could rank in the Top 10 for Arctic Cyclones in June as well as for the summer (June through August) in strength,” Steven Cavallo, a meteorologist at the University of Oklahoma, told Earther via email.

EDIT

https://earther.com/a-new-arctic-cyclone-could-be-among-the-most-powerful-o-1826679817

[pscot]

1. I don't recall any mention of arctic cyclones

in the past. Are these a recent phenomenon or were we just not paying attention?

[hatrack]

2. Not a new phenomenon, but bigger and stronger (generally) in the past few years . .

Also, much bigger impact on what's left of the sea ice, given how thin it already is.

[shraby]

3. How will that affect Canada and the U.S. weather systems?