The November 2014 Bering Sea cyclone (also referred to as Post-Tropical Cyclone Nuri by the U.S. government) was the most intense

extratropical cyclone Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of ...

(also a bomb cyclone) ever recorded in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

, which formed from a new storm developing out of the low-level circulation that separated from Typhoon Nuri, which soon absorbed the latter. The cyclone brought gale-force winds to the western

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

and produced even higher gusts in other locations, including a gust in

Shemya Shemya or Simiya ( ale, Samiyax̂) is a small island in the Semichi Islands group of the Near Islands chain in the Aleutian Islands archipelago southwest of Alaska, at . It has a land area of , and is about southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. It is ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. The storm coincidentally occurred three years after another historic extratropical cyclone impacted an area slightly further to the east.

Meteorological history

Right after the JMA downgraded

Nuri Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the west side of the Nile River, Nile, near the Fourth Cataract. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, Sudan, Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal. Nuri is the second of three Napatan burial sites ...

to a severe tropical storm at 00:00 UTC on November 6, the JTWC downgraded it to a tropical storm and issued its final warning for the system, due to Nuri's

extratropical transition Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of ...

and diminishing deep convection. In the afternoon, Nuri accelerated northeastward and became completely extratropical east of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Due to an unusually powerful North Pacific jet stream, the extratropical cyclone underwent extremely

explosive cyclogenesis Explosive cyclogenesis (also referred to as a weather bomb, meteorological bomb, explosive development, bomb cyclone, or bombogenesis) is the rapid deepening of an Extratropical cyclone, extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area. The change in pr ...

on November 7, owing to the energy from differences in air masses. The system split into two centers early on the same day, but the former center on the southwest was absorbed into the new center on the northeast, within half of a day. Bering Sea cyclone 2014-11-08 animation

November 2014 Bering Sea bomb cyclone peak, on November 8

After attaining typhoon-force winds at , the new storm's central pressure decreased to 920

hPa HPA may refer to: Organizations * Harry Potter Alliance, a charity * Halifax Port Authority, Canada * Hamburg Port Authority, Germany * Hawaii Preparatory Academy, a school in Hawaii, US * Health Protection Agency, UK * Heerespersonalamt, the Ger ...

(mbar; 27.17

inHg Inch of mercury (inHg and ″Hg) is a non- SI unit of measurement for pressure. It is used for barometric pressure in weather reports, refrigeration and aviation in the United States. It is the pressure exerted by a column of mercury in heigh ...

) early on November 8, becoming the most intense extratropical cyclone of the North Pacific Ocean since reliable records began. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided a slightly higher estimate of 924 mbar (hPa; 27.29 inHg), a pressure which still holds the record for most intense cyclone in the Bering Sea. The extratropical cyclone crossed the

International Date Line The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...

on November 9, at which time it started to weaken. However, the system's intensity shifted the jet stream far to the north of Alaska, resulting in a large mass of Arctic air invading the United States along and east of the Rocky Mountains, which caused the worst cold wave the United States had experienced since the

Early 2014 North American cold wave The early 2014 North American cold wave was an extreme weather event that extended through the late winter months of the 2013–2014 winter season, and was also part of an unusually cold winter affecting parts of Canada and parts of the north-cen ...

. Early on the next day, the storm weakened further into a

gale-force The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufo ...

system and turned northward. On November 11, it turned northwestward, crossed the International Date Line for the second time, and weakened even further. Afterwards, the system made a counter-closewise loop and crossed the International Date Line for the third time, late on November 12. The system eventually dissipated near the

on November 13.

Impact

North America

Sustained winds of with gusts to were recorded on the island of

. Only minor damage was reported on the island which houses a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

installation. The northward movement of the cyclone altered the

jet stream Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering thermal wind, air currents in the Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. On Earth, the main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are west ...

, which allowed a fragment of the

polar vortex A circumpolar vortex, or simply polar vortex, is a large region of cold, rotating air that encircles both of Earth's polar regions. Polar vortices also exist on other rotating, low-obliquity planetary bodies. The term polar vortex can be used to ...

to descend from the Arctic region into lower Canada and the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

, affecting up to 200 million people with colder-than-normal temperatures and early snowstorms. Some U.S. locations had temperatures 45 °F (25 °C) below normal. On November 10, St. Cloud,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

had the biggest snowfall ever in November with . By the next day,

Ishpeming Ishpeming ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,470 at the 2010 census, less than it was in the 1950s and 1960s when the iron ore mines employed more workers. A statue of a ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

had , the most of any location. On November 13,

Casper Casper may refer to: People * Casper (given name) * Casper (surname) * Casper (Maya ruler) (422–487?), ruler of the Mayan city of Palenque * Tok Casper, first known king of Maya city-state Quiriguá in Guatemala, ruling beginning in 426 * David ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

had its lowest temperature ever recorded in November, with a record low of , and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

had a low of , the second coldest temperature ever recorded for that month.

References

{{United States winter storms Bering Bering Bering Bering Bering Bering Bering Bering Natural disasters in the Russian Far East November 2014 events in Asia Natural disasters in Michigan November 2014 events in North America November 2014 events in Russia November 2014 events in the United States

Meteorological history

Impact

North America

See also

References