A Derecho is forecast to go from CHI - East coast. This is a very severe weather system that will have winds above 60 MPH. I believe that this is a repeat of what happened last June ( ? ) that caused widespread destruction and some areas with power for 2 + weeks. Also some damage to RRs as well. Anyone remember more ? One of our local weather gussers says it will hit Ohio about midnight ?
http://meteorologicalmusings.blogspot.com/2013/06/storm-outlook-through-tomorrow-night.html
Odds are that its not a derecho at all.
Sometimes I wish they’d never used that word because people have no idea what it means or that they’re not uncommon. A line of thunderstorms is just a line of thunderstorms.
Derechos tend to be longer lived than microbursts - bigger than I had pictured them, in fact, according to the Wikipedia definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho.
That said, while it’s not likely that a derecho will last all the way from Chicago to the east coast, if the conditions are right, a number of them could occur along the way.
Looking at the radar at 2100 EDT, I’m not seeing any bow echos.
Looking here at 0142 EDT, I am seeing a definite bow echo pattern looping from lower Michigan around NW Ohio.
I was watching to see what was happening in SE MI for a little while, but my bed called. Nothing on freep.com about storm damage, though.
Just some scattered power outages.
The system would be better described as a squall line. It went through northern Illinois last night and some areas had downed trees and power lines.
“Derecho” seems yo be the latest fad word with meteorological types. From what I’ve researched about it it sounds like an old-fashioned “line squall” to me.
Been in aviation for over thirty years and never heard that term We refer to them as 'squall lines.
Wikipedia lists a derecho as a variation on a squall line, the major difference being that a squall line may consist of a line of thunderstorms, whose wind and weather can come and go, whereas a derecho is defined as having consistently high winds over a longer track.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squall_line
The 1995 NY derecho, which did considerable damage in the Adirondack forest, ran from the St Lawrence River to around the Hudson River.
7pm last night in Valparaiso In we had almost total darkness, then very strong winds, and horizontal downpour rain. Not sure what to call it, but it was pretty nasty.
Ed
Well it turned more south toward us in Georgia. Only very preliminary reports but already 190,000 electric customer services out with storm continuing… Trees down especially in northern third of state with many roads blocked. We had only 45 minutes of storm with 1.2 " of rain.that just passed to the south at 10:20 PM. Rail problems unknown but no rail traffic by here since 8 PM.
As far as weather people naming a long term storm system “Derecho” well how many of us if we had been alive would have known 70 years ago what a “tsunami” was ?
[:-,] Only “Dereco” from CHI to East Coast that I’m familiar with is this one (from http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1103665 ):
"Found this on the PRRTHS website re: Dereco:
Aug. 31, 1965 N&W and C&O announce intent to merge, creating a two-system East; will create a holding company called Dereco which will also take over the stocks of the Erie Lackawanna, Boston & Maine, and Delaware & Hudson, thus isolating their losses from the profits of the Pocahontas roads; also offer to take Reading and CNJ.
Oct. 11, 1965 N&W and C&O file formal merger application with ICC in order to meet the threat of a larger Penn Central; agree in rider to also take in B&M, D&H, EL, CNJ and Reading under its Dereco holding company plan; moves to block New York State plan which would force it to take over EL directly."
"Dereco = Delaware Erie Reading Jersey CO. “DERJCO” simplified to “Dereco” for easy pronunciation. "
“DERJCO” first looked like DEJRCO, pronounced duh-jerk-co. [:P]
From what I’ve read about derecho’s, I’m glad they are very uncommon in the western US - tornadoes are very rare as well in the west for almost identical reasons.
Once upon a time The Weather Channel used to follow the Joe Friday version of the weather - ‘Just the facts!’
Over time they transitioned to caring about ratings. Since they have been purchased by NBC it appears that each weather occurrence that comes down the pike has to be bigger, badder and more colossal than any that has EVER occurred before it. How many storms of the Century can you have in a Century?
I think the Weather Channel actualy makes the weather for ratings just like CNN makes wars for ratings
A storm doesn’t have to be “The Storm of the Century” to be hazardous (shame on The “Weather” Channel). The wind speeds in Sandy were nowhere the most intense produced by a hurricane, but its path was almost ideal for causing major damage from the storm surge.
I agree that TWC has moved away from being an information source to being an entertainment source. I don’t much appreciate it when I can know more about some incoming weather from my computer and other sources than from TWC because they’ve got one of their dozen entertainment programs on.
Or because someone else has a “bigger” weather event going on.
They seem to be taking the path of MTV, which long ago stopped being about music.
I’ll listen to Tom Skilling (WGN in Chicago) any day. His knowledge and enthusiasm always make the weather segment worth watching.
How many “Storms of the Century” can you have? Well, there’s 100 years in a century you know.
And as far as the Weather Channel’s concerned, I’m only going to get nervous if Jim Cantore of same shows up in my neighborhood. He ALWAYS seems to turn up where there’s a catastrophe in the making! The man’s a harbinger of doom!