A New Class Of Windstorms...

By Howard Manges

September 17, 2010 Updated Sep 17, 2010 at 8:51 AM EDT

We have all seen nasty weather in one form or another. Many of us also know that when a thunderstorm is near, it can bring heavy rain; lots of lightning, sometimes hail and in the worst case can spawn tornadoes.

Sometimes a line of several thunderstorms can form and destructive winds racing out of them can reach the ground and cause significant damage to buildings, property and trees. When this happens meteorologists refer to these events as a “derecho”. Derecho is Spanish for “straight” and identifies the “straight” or uniform direction of the winds at the surface. In May 2009, in portions of the Midwest, a derecho developed that was incredibly strong; so strong it spawned a new class of derecho’s. Visit the following link to read about it.


Super Duper Wind Storm.

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