early a half-million people are still without power in the Mid-Atlantic Region after this morning's severe wind event, and sadly, two people lost their lives in northern Virginia. This long-lived squall line that developed yesterday evening in the Great Lakes Region and continued all the way through the DC area this morning is termed a "derecho" and is quite common this time of year as disturbances crest the top of a large anticyclone.
Derecho is a Spanish word meaning "direct" or "straight-ahead", first used in the meteorological context by physics professor, Gustavus Hinrichs. A derecho is a long-lived squall line or convective complex that can produce strong straight-line winds exceeding 80 mph over a large area. Strong derechos will spread a swatch of destruction stretching hundreds of miles, similar to the event early this morning that developed over the Great Lakes Region and continued through the Mid-Atlantic.
Derechos often start as a cluster of supercells well upstream before organizing into a massive squall line. The supercell pictured here was from one such case that organized into a derecho downstream.
Derecho is a Spanish word meaning "direct" or "straight-ahead", first used in the meteorological context by physics professor, Gustavus Hinrichs. A derecho is a long-lived squall line or convective complex that can produce strong straight-line winds exceeding 80 mph over a large area. Strong derechos will spread a swatch of destruction stretching hundreds of miles, similar to the event early this morning that developed over the Great Lakes Region and continued through the Mid-Atlantic.
Derechos often start as a cluster of supercells well upstream before organizing into a massive squall line. The supercell pictured here was from one such case that organized into a derecho downstream.
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