WSDOT is warning ferry travelers to prepare for possible service disruptions as a powerful bomb cyclone storm makes its way toward western Washington.

Bomb cyclone is a term used by weather enthusiasts to describe a process that meteorologists usually call bombogenesis. It’s the rapid intensification of a cyclone in a short period of time, and it can happen during powerful storms such as the one northern California and the Pacific Northwest are preparing for this week.

Hundreds of thousands of people are in the dark thanks to high winds from the bomb cyclone hitting Western Washington Tuesday night.