During the summer of 2012, a series of severe wind events associated with powerful thunderstorms, known as derechos, affected widespread areas of the United States. The first of these derechos occurred in late June, and caused power outages that affected nearly five million people. Three weaker derechos occurred in July, and a final derecho disrupted activities in Chicago, Illinois in early August. Only three tornadoes were reported in conjunction with the derechos.
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On June 29, a powerful derecho with wind gusts over 90 mph began in Chicago and moved all the way to the east coast, causing massive damage in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. Damage affected large population centers such as Fort Wayne, Indiana, Columbus, Ohio, Charleston, West Virginia, Roanoke, Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, Washington, DC, Kentucky, and Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was the first of three derechos to affect west-central Ohio.
On July 2, a much less long-lived derecho moved due south from Kentucky through Tennessee over about 300 miles. It was about as wide as its track was long. [1]
On July 24, a very small derecho moved through Chicago (the second in four weeks) through Indiana, western Ohio (the second of three in four weeks), and down into Kentucky where its damage path broke up. [2]
The fourth derecho in four weeks struck much of the eastern US on July 26 as a cold front brought the necessary conditions for a serial derecho. This began over Lake Erie, and spread rapidly to the northeast and southwest as it made landfall in northern Ohio and Pennsylvania. Several bow echos developed separately, even taking on the characteristics of multiple single-bow derechos, before all of the segments connected into a line echo wave pattern, the classic shape of a multi-bow serial derecho on radar. Notably, it was the fourth to hit the US within four weeks, and some areas such as Dayton, Ohio experienced three derechos within this span, where on average they receive only one derecho per year. [3] Remnants of the derecho continued to produce isolated severe weather across the eastern US overnight. Five people were injured as a result of the storm. [4]
On August 4, a derecho traveled 300 miles from east Iowa to Ohio, disrupting the Lollapallooza festival in Chicago. [5] There were over 150 reports of wind damage from this storm, with five reports of hurricane-force winds (more than 74 mph) and a tornado. The derecho narrowly missed the same west-central Ohio area which was struck by three derechos within four weeks from the end of June to the end of July. [6]
A derecho is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms known as a mesoscale convective system.
The 1991 West Virginia derecho was a serial derecho (storm) that started in Arkansas in the early morning hours of April 9, 1991, and made its way northeast, finally dying out over Pennsylvania late that evening.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2006. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Brazil and Australia. Tornadic events are often accompanied with other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.
The tornado outbreak of January 1–2, 2006, was one of the largest tornado outbreaks ever recorded in the month of January. The outbreak affected much of the Central and Southern United States and produced 20 tornadoes. The tornadoes caused considerable damage in the states of Kentucky and Georgia. There were no tornado related fatalities and only minor injuries were reported.
The Corn Belt derecho was a progressive derecho which affected a large area of the central United States on June 29, 1998. In the morning, thunderstorms, including a supercell, developed over South Dakota and tracked into central Iowa. As the thunderstorms reached central Iowa, a strong rear-inflow jet developed which caused the thunderstorm to take on a different characteristic, becoming a derecho. It traveled more than 600 miles in about ten hours, causing more than $125 million worth of widespread damage destruction, especially to crops, and was responsible for power outages to nearly a half a million people.
The tornado outbreak of October 17–19, 2007 was a widespread tornado outbreak that took place across much of the eastern half of North America starting on October 17, 2007, and continuing into the early hours of October 19. The outbreak was also responsible for five deaths; three in Michigan and two in Missouri, plus many injuries. At least 64 tornadoes were confirmed including 16 on October 17 across six states including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri with wind damage reported in Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas and Mississippi. On October 18, at least 48 tornadoes were confirmed across eight states including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, plus widespread straight line wind damage. Until 2010, this event held the record for largest tornado outbreak ever recorded in the month of October according to NOAA.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2008. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, and Australia. Tornadic events are often accompanied with other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.
The May 2009 derecho series was an unusually strong sequence of derecho events and tornadoes beginning on May 2, 2009 and continuing through May 8, which primarily affected the Southern United States. At least seven people were killed by the storms. An associated tornado outbreak also resulted in nearly 100 tornadoes, some strong, with most strong tornadoes, most damage, and all of the deaths on May 8. In total, nine people were killed, dozens were injured and at least $70 million in damage occurred, $58 million on May 8.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 2010. The majority of tornadoes form in the U.S., but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. A lesser number occur outside the U.S., most notably in parts of neighboring southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season, but are also known in South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
The June 2010 Northern Plains tornado outbreak was one of the most prolific summer tornado outbreaks in the Northern Great Plains of the United States on record. The outbreak began on June 16 with several tornadoes in South Dakota and Montana. The most intense storms took place the following day across much of eastern North Dakota and much of Minnesota. The system produced 93 tornadoes reported across four states while killing three people in Minnesota. Four of the tornadoes were rated as EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the most violent tornadoes in a 24-hour period since there were five within 15 hours on February 5–6, 2008. This was the region's first major tornado outbreak of the year and one of the largest on record in the region, comparable to a similar outbreak in June 1992. The 48 tornadoes that touched down in Minnesota on June 17 marked the most active single day in the state's history. June 17 was the second largest tornado day on record in the meteorological summer, behind the most prolific day of the 2003 South Dakota tornado outbreak on June 24, 2003.
The October 2010 North American storm complex is the name given to a historic extratropical cyclone that impacted North America. The massive storm complex caused a wide range of weather events including a major serial derecho stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, a widespread tornado outbreak across the Southeast United States and Midwest and a blizzard across portions of the Canadian Prairies and the Dakotas. The cyclone's lowest minimum pressure of 955.2 mb (28.21 inHg) made it the second most intense non-tropical system recorded in the continental United States (CONUS). The lowest confirmed pressure for a non-tropical system in the continental United States was set by a January 1913 Atlantic coast storm.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 2011. Extremely destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, Brazil and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also appear regularly in neighboring southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season, and somewhat regularly in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
The June 2012 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest derecho was one of the deadliest and most destructive fast-moving severe thunderstorm complexes in North American history. The progressive derecho tracked across a large section of the Midwestern United States and across the central Appalachians into the mid-Atlantic states on the afternoon and evening of June 29, 2012, and into the early morning of June 30, 2012. It resulted in a total of 22 deaths, millions of power outages across the entire affected region, and a damage total of US$2.9 billion which exceeded that of all other derecho events aside from the August 2020 Midwest derecho. The storm prompted the issuance of four separate severe thunderstorm watches by the Storm Prediction Center. A second storm in the late afternoon caused another watch to be issued across Iowa and Illinois.
From June 12 to June 13, 2013, two derechos occurred across different areas of the Eastern United States. The initial derecho formed on the afternoon of June 12 and tracked across a large section of the Midwestern United States, the central Appalachians, and the Mid-Atlantic states before moving into the Atlantic Ocean during the morning of June 13. A second, more widespread and intense derecho occurred on June 13 across the Southeastern United States, resulting in major wind damage across North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, among other states. They resulted in at least three deaths and caused extensive damage – resulting from both tornadoes and straight-line winds – from Iowa to South Carolina. 28 tornadoes touched down in Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, and Tennessee. One of the tornadoes in Iowa was rated as a high-end EF3, destroying a restaurant and two houses. One person was injured by another tornado, rated EF2, in Carroll County, Illinois, and nine people were injured by and EF1 in Cherokee County, Georgia.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 2014. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Eastern India, but they can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also appear regularly in neighboring southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer season, and somewhat regularly in Europe, Asia, and Australia.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 2020. Strong and destructive tornadoes form most frequently in the United States, Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, and eastern India, but can occur almost anywhere under the right conditions. Tornadoes also develop occasionally in southern Canada during the Northern Hemisphere's summer and somewhat regularly at other times of the year across Europe, Asia, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Tornadic events are often accompanied by other forms of severe weather, including strong thunderstorms, strong winds, and hail.
The August 2020 Midwest derecho was a powerful derecho affecting the Midwestern United States on August 10–11, 2020–predominantly eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. It caused high winds and spawned an outbreak of weak tornadoes. Some areas reported torrential rain and large hail.
On June 4, 1993, a severe derecho swept across the Midwestern and Eastern United States. The most significant damage was reported in portions of southern Virginia, especially Lynchburg. This derecho caused widespread wind damage reports in a swath from Missouri eastward into much of Kentucky into Virginia and North Carolina. In addition, several severe wind reports were received scattered across this swath. In addition, there were a few weak tornadoes that were confirmed along the path. In addition, widespread large and damaging hail was observed along the path.
On May 12, 2022, a severe squall line followed by a derecho took place across the Midwestern United States. Two fatalities occurred from the first line of storms while three more deaths occurred from the derecho itself.
