A nasty line of thunderstorms ripped across the Midwestern states Thursday, leaving a damage path that extends from Nebraska to Indiana. This storm was classified as a derecho.
If you recall, the Midwest dealt with a powerful derecho back on August 10th, 2020. One that became the costliest thunderstorm disaster in U.S history, causing around $12 billion in damage.
Now, meteorologists don't use the term "derecho" often because there is a certain criteria an event has to meet before being considered one. According to the Storm Prediction Center, a derecho is a long lived line of severe wind storms that produces winds greater than or equal to 58 mph over the course of at least 400 miles, 60 miles in width, and also produces several, well separated reports of gust to 75 mph or more. Typically, derechos are known as warm-season events and are found moving over the northern side of upper level ridge of high pressure. Meteorologically speaking, we call these types of storms "ridge riders"
Yesterday's derecho reached peak intensity while tracking through northeast Missouri, southeast Iowa and west-central Illinois. Preliminary survey information from the National Weather Service in Quad Cities found evidence of gusts topping 120 mph near the town of Adrian, Illinois.
This caused significant damage to a few utility
poles and a communication tower. Kahoka, Missouri registered a 100 mph wind gust, which resulted in roof damage to several homes. Further to the east, over 290,000 people in central Illinois and western Indiana lost power because of the storm, and are still without power this morning. The overall pattern into the weekend remains the same, which will allow a few more clusters to track across the Midwestern states. However, the likelihood of them being classified as a derecho is low.
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