This past week I have been participating in an involuntary experiment in Amish-style living, no electricity and no running water. Of the two, not having running water was the worst. Anyway, I am back connected to the 21st century.
As I walked into work Monday morning the sky was growling like an empty stomach, so when I got to my cubicle I logged onto the Weather Channel to see what was going on. Immediately I noticed a huge yellow and orange blob of nastiness heading across Lake Michigan. Oh-oh, I thought, this is not going to be good. The leading edge had the classic bow-shaped signature of a derecho. Already it had done its wicked work in Wisconsin and Illinois, now it was taking aim at Michigan.
Derecho (day-reko), is a term that has only come into use in the last few years. It basically means a system of thunderstorms producing prolonged straight-line winds that can reach Category 1 hurricane speeds. Unlike tornadoes, derechoes can cover hundreds of miles both in width and in length. Because the damage they create is similar to that caused by an EF0 or EF1 tornado, they are often mistaken for tornadoes, and indeed, tornadoes can accompany derechoes.
By the time the derecho finished crossing the lake it had lost none of its viciousness. It announced itself by blowing up a transformer outside the company, plunging everything into temporary blackness until the generator came on. Watching it from the safety of my office building was like watching a hurricane video on Weather Channel only this was live and only a inch of glass separated us from the fury outside. I am really surprised they didn't make us go into the basement, but they only do that for tornadoes. (Nor were any sirens blown.) The rain came down in gusts and the wind snatched handfuls of leaves and threw them wildly in the air. But that was mild compared to the horror that was happening elsewhere. A big walnut tree almost a meter across went down in my backyard and took several others with it. Cornfields were flattened. No, it wasn't as devastating as the tornadoes that rampaged across the South earlier this year but for Michigan it was pretty bad.
As I walked into work Monday morning the sky was growling like an empty stomach, so when I got to my cubicle I logged onto the Weather Channel to see what was going on. Immediately I noticed a huge yellow and orange blob of nastiness heading across Lake Michigan. Oh-oh, I thought, this is not going to be good. The leading edge had the classic bow-shaped signature of a derecho. Already it had done its wicked work in Wisconsin and Illinois, now it was taking aim at Michigan.
Derecho (day-reko), is a term that has only come into use in the last few years. It basically means a system of thunderstorms producing prolonged straight-line winds that can reach Category 1 hurricane speeds. Unlike tornadoes, derechoes can cover hundreds of miles both in width and in length. Because the damage they create is similar to that caused by an EF0 or EF1 tornado, they are often mistaken for tornadoes, and indeed, tornadoes can accompany derechoes.
By the time the derecho finished crossing the lake it had lost none of its viciousness. It announced itself by blowing up a transformer outside the company, plunging everything into temporary blackness until the generator came on. Watching it from the safety of my office building was like watching a hurricane video on Weather Channel only this was live and only a inch of glass separated us from the fury outside. I am really surprised they didn't make us go into the basement, but they only do that for tornadoes. (Nor were any sirens blown.) The rain came down in gusts and the wind snatched handfuls of leaves and threw them wildly in the air. But that was mild compared to the horror that was happening elsewhere. A big walnut tree almost a meter across went down in my backyard and took several others with it. Cornfields were flattened. No, it wasn't as devastating as the tornadoes that rampaged across the South earlier this year but for Michigan it was pretty bad.
