Winds of close to 100 mph in Iowa were whipped up by a possible "derecho" overnight Monday into early Tuesday. 'Tis the season for these relatively rare severe thunderstorm events.
It happened in the prime stomping grounds for these extreme wind events and during the height of the season for these powerful clusters of thunderstorms. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center gave a heads-up Monday as it outlined portions of over a dozen states containing nearly 14 million people for a marginal, slight, enhanced, or moderate risk (Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, with Level 5 being high risk) for severe thunderstorms by Tuesday morning.
"Long-lived, strong squall lines are called 'derechos' (Spanish for "straight")," according to the NWS' description for these large, organized groupings of severe thunderstorms. "Derechos can travel many hundreds of miles and can produce considerable widespread damage from wind and hail."
The fifth anniversary of what the NWS called the "costliest known thunderstorm event in modern U.S. history" is less than two weeks away. A severe line of thunderstorms swept across the Upper Midwest on Aug. 10, 2020, hitting Iowa and Illinois the hardest, packing winds of up to 140 mph, and spawning over two dozen tornadoes. The derecho knocked out power to over 20 million people as it produced damage to an area of more than 90,000 square miles. At least four people were killed that day, and numerous injuries were also reported.
The thunderstorms spreading across Iowa and Illinois on Tuesday morning at one point had many of the earmarks of a derecho. "I just got hit by a derecho that was producing 100-120 mph winds," exclaimed Iowa State University meteorology student Adriane Stamer on the social platform X. The Storm Prediction Center had received more than 165 reports of severe wind by early Tuesday morning, with the highest concentration of them coming out of southern Minnesota and eastern Iowa.
Meteorologists will survey the damage from this week's event to make a final determination of whether or not it can be classified as a derecho. After whipping up severe winds overnight, by daybreak Tuesday morning, the system had weakened considerably as its remnants drifted across central Illinois. The National Weather Service office in Lincoln, Illinois, noted gusty winds of up to 40 mph, strong enough to get your attention but not severe.
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The thunderstorms associated with derechos produce several strong downbursts, or areas of strong, possibly damaging winds, as relatively heavy, rain-cooled air descends from the base of thunderstorms and strikes the Earth's surface. Smaller pockets of rather intense, sometimes severe winds, called microbursts, can occur within these downbursts. They can deliver focused, narrow bursts of fierce straight-line winds, sometimes as damaging as a tornado.
The season for derechos runs from May through August. They are most common in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S., just east of the Rockies. This week's possible derecho formed on the north side of the heat dome responsible for a heat wave that has been broiling much of the central and eastern portions of the country. Over 141 million people across parts of at least 30 states were under heat alerts Tuesday.
The extreme heat and humidity fueled the strong thunderstorms that traversed Iowa early Tuesday. Our warming world is supercharging many extreme weather events, such as heat waves. Scientists have projected that heat stress from periods of extremely high heat will double by the end of the century.
"We've always had heat waves," the president and CEO of the Woodwell Climate Research Center, Max Holmes, told USA Today. "But it's happening a lot more, with greater intensity, greater duration, and greater frequency."
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