The United States faces extreme cold due to Winter Storm Grayson, a bomb cyclone slated to hit the East Coast this January. The powerful low-pressure system could resemble a winter hurricane and bring near-blizzard conditions, coastal flooding, and even power outages.

A "bomb cyclone" is the unofficial yet increasingly popular name for when a storm strengthens quickly as a result of a drop in pressure. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm, creating one massive bomb system.

It's caused by "explosive cyclogenesis," a process in which a low-pressure storm falls 24 millibars—a unit of pressure—over a 24-hour period. This can happen when cold and warm air masses collide. The central air in the system rises