Severe winter storm claims 14 lives in US, Europe

NEW YORK, Jan 04 (Agencies): A severe winter storm is hitting the eastern US, extending a cold snap that has already claimed 11 lives.

Forecasters say a severe pressure drop will lead to an explosive winter storm along the eastern US, and is already bringing snow to Florida.

The US is currently on its 10th day of record-breaking frigid temperatures which began around Christmas.

But the predicted new storm has led meteorologists to deploy a new term - bomb cyclone.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has warned that "Arctic air mass will remain entrenched over the eastern two thirds of the country through the end of the week".

"Very cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills expected," the NWS added.

A "bomb cyclone" or "weather bomb" is an unofficial term for what is known as explosive cyclogenesis, according to BBC Weather.

This occurs when the central pressure of a low pressure system falls by 24 millibars in 24 hours and can result in violent winds developing around the system.

The winds can be strong enough to bring down trees and cause structural damage.

The coming storm, the Washington Post adds, will "in many ways resemble a winter hurricane" which could be the eastern US's most intense in decades.

It comes as the average temperature across the continental US hovered around 9.1F (-12.7C) on Tuesday morning, according to CBS News.

On Thursday and Friday, the major storm is expected to develop along the eastern seaboard of the US, bringing strong winds, rain, sleet and snow, according to BBC Weather.

The storm is forecast to undergo rapid cyclogenesis over the Atlantic Ocean, and current projections show areas north of New York as having the highest risk of significant impacts from strong winds and heavy snow.

In France, a 21-year-old skier was killed by a falling tree at Morillon in the Alps where dangerous conditions forced the closure of several resorts.

More than a dozen others were injured by the storm across France, four seriously, civil defence spokesman Michael Bernier told AFP as the country was lashed by what meteorologists termed the strongest winds in eight years.

On the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, where gusts of up to 140 kilometres per hour (85 miles per hour) were recorded, winds fanned the flames of forest and scrub fires started by downed power lines, leaving three people injured.

At Lenk in central Switzerland, eight people were hurt when a violent gust of wind overturned a railway carriage while one person was injured by a falling tree in the southern Dutch village of Heesch.

Heavy winds forced authorities to close the airports in Strasbourg and Basel-Mulhouse on France's border with Germany and Switzerland before they were reopened shortly after midday.