Icy Extremes: Universe Unclumps as Bomb Cyclone Chills Chile & Southeast

Southeast U.S. Hit by Bomb Cyclone, Bringing Record Cold and Snow

A powerful winter weather system, characterized as an intense low-pressure "bomb cyclone," brought record-breaking cold and snow to the Southeast United States on Sunday, February 1, 2026. Temperatures in southern Florida plunged into the 20s, marking the coldest temperatures the region has experienced since 1989, according to the National Weather Service.

The National Weather Service issued warnings of freezing temperatures and "bitterly cold air" surging down the Florida Peninsula. "All of our climate sites set new record lows for the date," the agency stated on its website. The storm system affected a large swath of the country, driving extremely cold air deep into the Southeast, according to NPR News.

The term "bomb cyclone" refers to a rapidly intensifying area of low pressure.

While the Southeast was dealing with the effects of the bomb cyclone, other parts of the world were experiencing different phenomena. In Chile, researchers at the Initihuasi Seed Bank were working to preserve plant biodiversity by freezing seeds, according to NPR Politics. Ana Sandoval, a researcher at the seed bank, is "nurturing the future with a pot of shooting seeds," according to John Bartlett of NPR.

Meanwhile, astronomers released the most ambitious cosmic map assembled to date, confirming that matter in the Universe is less clumpy than standard cosmological theory would predict, according to Nature News. The Dark Energy Survey observed around 150 million galaxies visible in Earth's southern sky.

In New York City, a snowstorm prompted some to listen to M83's "Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts," according to The Verge. Terrence O'Brien, The Verge's weekend editor, noted that the album is reminiscent of Mogwai and is fitting for "wandering the oddly quiet streets after dark."

Furthermore, Wired published an article detailing how to use physics to escape an ice bowl. The article outlines three possible escape plans, using a physics model to generate animations.