YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Severe weather blew through the Ohio Valley on Tuesday. Locally, southern Columbiana County received the brunt of the damage. But was this damaging storm classified as a derecho?
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The National Weather Service defines a derecho as “a widespread and usually fast-moving windstorm associated with convection which can produce damaging straight-line winds over areas hundreds of miles long and more than 100 miles across.”
To be technically classified as a derecho, one of these clusters of windstorms must contain all of the following:
- Wind damage extending at least 400 miles in length and 60 miles in width
- Bow echoes and rear-inflow jets observed on radar
- Wind gusts of at least 58 mph along the majority of the storm’s length
- Several, well-separated measured wind gusts at least 75 mph
Tuesday’s storm reports showed 500 miles of damaging winds. Winds in excess of 58 mph are shown by a white circle. You may also note that there are a few off-white circles in this map. These show the few severe hail (1″ or greater in diameter) reports. (Storm Team 27)
While Tuesday’s storms checked most of the above criteria, the final criteria of several, well-separated measured wind gusts of at least 75 mph was not reached. According to a report from the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh, the squall line “lacked periodic measured gusts in excess of 75 mph along the damage swath (keyword: measured).”
Even though the squall line was not technically considered a derecho, major damage and hundreds of thousands were left without power even 24 hours after the storms blew through.
The term derecho only signifies a specific type of squall line. This does not diminish how dangerous and destructive squall lines of thunderstorms are. While no tornadoes were officially confirmed, extreme winds and tornado-like damage were reported all across Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Local residents spent Wednesday cleaning up damage.
As noted above, multiple reports of winds in excess of 58 mph spanned over 500 miles. In fact, some places in southwest Pennsylvania reported winds from 90-95 mph Tuesday afternoon, with tornado-like, straight-line wind damage. This goes to show you don’t need a strictly defined “derecho” or a tornado touchdown to produce damage to property and disruptions to life.
More chances of rain and storms are in the current Storm Team 27 7-day Forecast. Stay on top of severe weather all season long by downloading the Storm Team on the Apple App Store or Google Play .
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