New Twist In Nation's 2019 Severe Weather Hell: A Derecho

Damage reports extending from Colorado to South Carolina Friday
along the path of a derecho.

As many parts of the nation continues to reel from severe storms and flooding that seem to go on and on, we had one more type of storm chaos to deal with this past week. A derecho.

Derechos are long-lasting, long-tracked thunderstorm complexes that are capable of lots and lots of damage. That's especially true because they cover quite a lot of real estate.

Here's the officials definition of a derecho from NOAA:

"By definition, if the swath of wind damage extend for more than 250 miles, includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph for most of its length and also includes several well separated 75 mph or greater gusts, then the event may be classified as a derecho."

It appears Friday's storm complex, which originated over Colorado late Thursday night and finally moved off the coast of far distanct South Carolina early Saturday, will be classified as a derecho.  This path was unusually long, even for a derecho. It went on for more than 1,000 miles before finally falling apart off the South Carolina coast.

Friday's derecho killed at least 3 people along its path, the Weather Channel reported. There were a good 550 reports of damage across the nation Friday, mostly along the path of the derecho.

Derechos can produce tornadoes, but most of the damage from them is from straight line winds. This was true of Friday's storm complex. Six tornadoes were reported, but most of the severe weather reports were of straight line winds.

Damage reports were spottier in Colorado and Kansas in the initial phase of the derecho. I think that's mostly because it went through sparsely populated areas so that not as many people were there to report on it

The derecho picked up steam later Friday as it past southeastward through Missouri, southern Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina.

Derechos aren't very common, to be honest. There's usually only a couple or a few in the United States every year, if that.

That's good, because derechos can be very expensive, not to mention deadly. Remember, they cover a lot of ground, so there's usually a huge number of people and property in the way of these things

There's no word on the dollar amount of damage of Friday's derecho, but some past ones have been really notable. A June, 2012 derecho that started in Iowa and moved east and southeastward through the Mid-Atlantic states killed 22 people, caused $2.9 billion in damage and cut off electricity for 4 million people.

Derechos are rare in Vermont, but can happen. On average, Vermont can be expected to experience a derecho once every four years.

Perhaps the most notable derecho in modern times to affect our neck of the woods was in July, 1995, amid a record heat wave. (Derechos often get their a lot of their energy from extremely hot, humid air.)

There was actually a series of four derechos during one week across the northern United States in mid-July, 1995. The fourth one originated in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and traveled southeastward through Ontario, New York, and on into southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and the rest of southern New England.

When this derecho crossed the Adirondacks, it leveled large tracts of forest and killed five people. There was also lots of tree damage in Vermont, mostly south of Route 4.

It's hard to tell when another derecho will develop. Suffice it to say there's plenty of severe weather once again in the middle of the nation today. No word yet on whether any of this will evolve into another derecho.