# Dangerous Derecho Slams Central U.S. with Hurricane-Force Winds and Tornadoes

About this episode

A powerful outbreak of severe thunderstorms, fitting the profile of a derecho, is impacting the central United States with hurricane-force winds and tornadoes.

Listeners, a powerful outbreak of severe thunderstorms with widespread destructive winds is slamming the central United States right now, fitting the profile of a derecho as fast-moving lines of storms unleash gusts from 60 to 90 mph across a massive corridor. CNN reports that these storms, fueled by jet stream energy and Gulf moisture, began producing multiple tornadoes Friday afternoon in areas like Rochester, Minnesota, and have transitioned into squall lines capable of uprooting trees, snapping power lines, and causing outages for over 115,000 customers in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma as of early Saturday. Fox Weather details how initial supercells in eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, and northern Illinois spawned intense, long-track tornadoes—some potentially EF-3 strength—before merging into a 1,500-mile-long squall line racing toward the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes. Hurricane-force gusts up to 90 mph are the main threat now, marching through cities like Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Wichita, with the Storm Prediction Center highlighting a Level 4 out of 5 severe risk from northwest Oklahoma to western Missouri. Agrolatam notes this ties into a…

Topics covered

• severe weather
• derecho
• tornadoes
• thunderstorms
• wind damage

Keywords

• derecho
• severe thunderstorms
• tornadoes
• wind damage
• April 17

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CNN, Fox Weather, Agrolatam, WAND-TV

Places: Central U.S., Rochester, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, Wichita

More episodes of Derecho

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• # Powerful Windstorm Batters Central Plains, Narrowly Missing Derecho Classification · June 9, 2026 · 4 min
• # Powerful Derecho-Like Windstorm Batters Central U.S. with Damaging Straight-Line Winds · June 6, 2026 · 5 min
• # Powerful Midwest Windstorm Approaches Derecho Status, Leaves Hundreds of Thousands Without Power · June 4, 2026 · 5 min
• # Powerful Derecho Brings Hurricane-Force Winds Across Central and Eastern U.S. · May 21, 2026 · 4 min