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Friday, September 11, 2020

What is a derecho? An atmospheric scientist explains these rare but dangerous storm systems

Thunderstorms are common across North America, especially in warm weather months. About 10% of them become severe, meaning they produce hail 1 inch or greater in diameter, winds gusting in excess of 50 knots (57.5 miles per hour), or a tornado.

The U.S. recently has experienced two rarer events: organized lines of thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds, known as derechos.

Derechos occur mainly across the central and eastern U.S., where many locations are affected one to two times per year on average. They can produce significant damage to structures and sometimes cause “blowdowns” of millions of trees. Pennsylvania and New Jersey received the brunt of a derecho on June 3, 2020, that killed four people and left nearly a million without power across the mid-Atlantic region.
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-Gary

7 comments:

  1. One of those clipped my old home town back in Illinois pretty good last month.

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  2. you would think if a Derecho occurs a couple of times a year I would have heard about in 64 years. Did screw a bunch of stuff up though.

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  3. Yeah "derechos" are bad. But Izquierdas are the thrillas. Perdon a me, but mi gringo espanglish is ot worth a shot of patron mi amigos.

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    1. HAHAHAHAHAHAA...you are good Ray. You win the internet tonight

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  4. I thought a derecho was a new tortilla chip.

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  5. Put a fancy name on something that has been occurring for (pretty much) forever and infer it is something new as a result of global warming - er, I mean "climate change."

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  6. Just last year they were called "straight line winds". Have had a few nail areas around where I live, and had the misfortune to weather one (pun intended) in the middle of a polo field surrounded by tents...the tents weren't terribly useful afterwards. I guess "straight" comes with to many connotations, so we have to culturally appropriate the Spanish word that means the same thing. SMH.

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