Blizzard of 2017: What does bombogenesis mean?

There are lots of terms meteorologists use to describe storm systems, some of them more colorful than others. Perhaps the most-used and exotic-sounding one that is floating around in reference to the blizzard just beginning to bear down on the East Coast is "bombogenesis." While it sounds like a band name or a game console, it's really just a fancy way of saying that an area of low pressure is rapidly intensifying. Specifically, to qualify as a "weather bomb," the minimum central pressure of the storm must drop by at least 24 millibars within 24 hours. SEE ALSO: We're doomed (for a day): Paralyzing blizzard set to slam Philly, New York and Boston Some storms meet or exceed this threshold, as the blizzard is in the process of doing.