# Powerful Midwest Windstorm Approaches Derecho Status, Leaves Hundreds of Thousands Without Power

About this episode

The episode discusses a powerful windstorm in the Midwest that approached derecho status, causing extensive damage and power outages.

A fast-moving, damaging wind event across parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes earlier this week came close to meeting the classic definition of a derecho, with a long-lived bowing line of thunderstorms producing swaths of destructive straight-line winds over several states. According to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center’s recent event summaries, a powerful mesoscale convective system developed along a sharp cold front from eastern Nebraska into Iowa during the late-night and pre-dawn hours, then accelerated east and southeast through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio during the day. Forecasters highlighted a corridor of intense instability ahead of the line and unusually strong mid-level winds, conditions that favored widespread severe gusts rather than isolated storms. National Weather Service local office storm reports indicate this line produced dozens of wind damage reports and numerous measured severe gusts, including multiple observations above 65 to 75 miles per hour. In parts of Iowa and northern Illinois, emergency managers and local law enforcement relayed reports of grain bins crushed, farm outbuildings destroyed, large tree limbs snapped, and power poles toppled. Farther…

Topics covered

• severe weather
• windstorm
• derecho
• thunderstorms
• storm damage
• meteorology

Keywords

• derecho
• windstorm
• Midwest
• thunderstorms
• storm damage
• NOAA
• severe gusts
• power outages

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NOAA Storm Prediction Center

Places: Midwest, Great Lakes, eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, northern Illinois, western Ohio

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