Wicked Winds In The Upper Midwest As Wild Thunderstorms Sweep Through

Ominous thunderstorms bear down on the Lewis and
Clark Marina in Yankton, South Dakota Monday
evening in this web cam grab. Violent storms
caused a lot of damage in parts of South Dakota,
Iowa and Minnesota Monday and Monday night.'

The expected big storms - a likely derecho - in the Upper Midwest developed, spreading hurricane-force gusts in parts of South Dakota and Iowa. 

Damage reports are just started coming in, so we don't know the extent of it. But I'm sure there are structures with roof damage, houses with trees into them, and widespread power outages.

A derecho is officially defined as a batch of intense thunderstorms that spread frequent gusts of 58 mph or more, causing damage along a path at least 240 miles long. 

This just happened, so I don't know whether this will be officially defined as a derecho. But it probably will be. Reports of damage and gusts of 60 mph or more were reported between Sioux Falls, South Dakota and at least Davenport, Iowa, and those two cities are about 340 miles apart as the crow flies.

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center will make a final determination as to whether last night's weather meets the derecho criteria.   

The complex of storms created some pretty incredible winds in the eastern half of South Dakota and through Iowa and parts of southern Minnesota.

Wind reports include 99 mph and 92 mph northeast of Sioux City, Iowa; 92 mph in Spencer, Iowa, 90 mph in Janesville, Iowa and 87 mph in Irene, South Dakota. 

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had gusts to 83 mph. The city was ground zero for arguably the nation's worst derecho on record back in 2020 when wind gusts in Cedar Rapids reached an incredible 140 mph. Still, last night's storm had to be disheartening for a community trying to regrow its tree canopy from the storm five years ago.

Campers, some of them occupied, were blown over in north central Iowa, near the Buddy Holly Crash site.  At least 27,000 Iowans were without power last night.

In South Dakota, tree damage was widespread through much of the eastern part of the sate. A 200-foot tall cell tower collapsed in the town of Hudson.  The tower had carried signals for Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Companies were working on a temporary fix to return service to the area, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. 

A second clump of storms that was part of the same system produced storms further north in Minnesota and Wisconsin. A storm gust of 76 mph was reported in Rochester, Minnesota. 

Although there won't be anything as widespread as last night, severe storms are still a good bet in a broad zone from Montana through parts of Wyoming, South Dakota, pretty much all of Nebraska and western Iowa through this evening. 

Video:

Before the likely derecho coalesced, a tornado formed in southern South Dakota. A lightning strike associated with the same storm resulting in this video of the fire and the tornado simultaneously. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Monday Morning Weather: Dangerous Storms Northern Plain: Here In Vermont, Kinda Hot, Smoky As Late Week Dry Spell Looms

A destructive derecho is possible in the northern Plains
today especially in the orange and red areas on map,

While some areas of the nation continue to experience some odd, extreme and often dangerous weather, we in Vermont have settled into a sometimes foggy, sometimes humid, sometimes very warm and changeable weather pattern. 

More on Vermont in a minute, but we should get into some of the big weather headlines from yesterday. 

TAMPA HEAT

Tampa, Florida made local history by reaching 100 degrees, the first time that's happened since they started keeping track there in around 1890.

It might seem surprising that Tampa had never been 100 degrees. After all, July in Florida is hot.

It sure is. But in Tampa, humid sea breezes usually come in off the Gulf of Mexico. Those breezes collide with even hotter air just inland to produce pretty much daily thunderstorms. The sea breeze and the storms have always prevented Tampa from reaching 100 degrees until now,

Those sea breeze thunderstorms did eventually develop in Tampa  yesterday, but the overall air mass was so hot, tthey were able to reach 100 degrees. We'll never know for sure, but perhaps climate change was ale to push Tampa to 100 degrees. 

NORTHERN PLAINS EXTREME STORMS

We've been talking about the so-called heat dome in the middle of the nation, causing the sweltering, sometimes near record temperatures across the Midwest and East.

Severe storms often ride along the northern edge of these heat domes, and that's happening big time.

Several batches of storms have already battered the Upper Midwest in recent days. A somewhat out of season large tornado touched down Sunday west of Watertown, South Dakota. Winds in Watertown itself gusted to 71 mph. 

The same batch of storms helped create another tornado in western Minnesota, along with a string of wind damage and flash flooding reports across much of Minnesota, eastern South Dakota and northern Iowa,

Today looks even worse. Forecasters expect a dangerous derecho to develop somewhere in South Dakota. A derecho is a long-lasting band of intense, fast-moving thunderstorms with destructive winds. These things can cover many hundred of miles. 

This one could affect much of South Dakota, a good chunk of Minnesota and northern Iowa. Derechos are hard to predict, but conditions are favorable for one of these today. A worst-case scenario - which could conceivably happen - will be like the August 10, 2020 Iowa derecho.

In that case, a derecho roared across Iowa, causing straight line winds of up to 140 mph in Cedar Rapids, the highest winds ever recorded in a derecho. It was also the most destruction thunderstorm in U.S. history, causing $11 billion in damage.

Which is why we're hoping today's event falls well short of that, 

VERMONT RAIN

My St. Albans, Vermont gardens have that ragged,
crowded late summer look now, but at least there's
still some color

Luckily, nothing like a derecho is expected here in Vermont. We're safe. 

Many of us in Vermont managed to get a decent rainfall Sunday.  Parts of southern Vermont - as expected - got drenched nicely. Bennington reported a total of 1.39 inches. 

Unexpectedly, as we talked about yesterday, far northern Vermont saw a band of heavy rain during much of the morning. My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans, Vermont collected an impressive 1.35 inches of rain. 

St. Johnsbury reported 1.12 inches of rain.

Central Vermont missed out somewhat. Rainfall amounted to 0.4 inches in Burlington, 0,47 inches in Montpelier, and 0.67 inches in Rutland, where an isolated late afternoon/early evening thunderstorm added to the total, 

The rain was welcome, as much of the state except the Northeast Kingdom and parts of northwest Vermont have been a little on the dry side this month, 

So far, unlike most of the state, my area around St. Albans has had a wet month. I've collected right around 6.5 inches of rain so far this month.

Very little rain is expected this week, And it's looking like starting Thursday, , we could go as much as a week without any rain. That would be the longest dry spell we've had since last September.

THE FORECAST

Dense fog enveloped much of Vermont early this morning. I'm sure that slowed the morning commute in some areas. That will have burned off most places by the time you read this. 

Today

A northwest air flow that will eventually bring us our cooler, less humid air has already started. It'll just take awhile for the truly refreshing, very dry air to reach us. 

It was super muggy this morning, but the northwest breeze should lower our humidity a bit this afternoon. It'll still be on the sweaty side, but not the worst it could be.

Still, temperatures should get well into the 80s, and maybe even flirt with 90 degrees again in a few spots, And that damn wildfire smoke will be back. The smoke probably won't be as bad as it was Saturday, but it will still diminish air quality some.

Little disturbances in the air flow will keep very low chances of showers and storms going, but I emphasize very low. There might be something up by the Canadian border tonight, but don't count on it.

Tuesday

Tuesday looks hot and somewhat humid, with just a very low chance of storms. At least 90 percent of us shouldn't see anything at all, unless something in the forecast radically changes overnight.  A few towns should get close to 90 degrees again, the rest of us will be in the 80s. 

On the bright side, it looks like the smoke might diminish somewhat tomorrow. 

Wednesday

The most meaningful cold front in the series should come through sometimes Wednesday. It's too early to get into the details, but so far, I'm not impressed by the amount of rain or thunderstorms it looks like it will produce.

I suppose a few places might get lucky and see a good downpour. And, depending on the timing of the front, there might be a strong storm or two. But this won't be the severe weather event of the year. Nothing like South Dakota's anticipated derecho,

Dry Week?

That Wednesday cold front appears as if it will usher in that long dry spell. The high pressure coming down from Canada looks like it will be massive in size and slow moving.   It might not rain for seven or more consecutive days, though long range forecasts are always iffy, as I keep reminding everyone.

It will be cool at first, with that low humidity. Since the air will be coming from Canada, that cool air might end up being - sigh - smoky again. 

The cool weather looks like it won't last as long as many meteorologists had been thinking earlier. It now looks like only next Thursday, Friday and maybe Saturday will be cooler than average, and it won't be all that much chillier than you'd expect in early August.

Warmer summer weather will start to come back, probably next Sunday and stick around for awhile. The humidity will probably also return, at least to an extent.  

Long Lasting Texas Heat Now Spreading; Violent Storms On Edge Of "Heat Dome" Humidity/Rain Lingers Here

Derecho approaches Charleston, Illinois Thursday in
this web cam grab.

 Aside from the smoke from Canada choking large swaths of the United States, we now have a nasty heat wave and violent storms added to the mix. 

Heat warnings and advisories are scattered from California to Georgia.  

The Midwest is digging out from a violent derecho on Thursday and more nasty storms are on the way. 

And a tease we'll get to near the bottom of the post: We here in Vermont aren't immune from the bad weather over the next few days, but it won't be anything like the South and Midwest. 

Let's get into the heat wave first:

HEAT GROWS

Most of Texas has been broiling under a relentless, long lasting heat wave for about two weeks now.

Mercifully, the heat has avoided most of the rest of the nation.  In many parts of the United States, it's been a relatively cool June. 

That state of affairs is ending. 

The heat is expanding and is now starting to include almost the entire South from California to Georgia. And it's starting to creep north. Heat advisories have gone into effect as far north as Missouri.

Blame what is known as a heat dome. It's an area of high pressure with sinking air that prevents clouds and showers from forming. Heat domes trap hot, and often humid air beneath it, so people who live under one of these domes definitely suffer. 

The heat dome in Texas has been especially long lasting. And brutal. 

The Texas heat has been impressive. Del Rio, Texas had 10 daily record highs in a row, which is absolutely insane.  If you get three record hot days in a row, that's impressive. But 10?  Also, it has not been under 80 degrees in Del Rio since June 15. 

Already, at least 13 deaths have been attributed to the heat in Texas. But that might be an under count. 

In the dystopia that is Texas, prison inmates are dying of heat in prisons that are not air conditioned, but the cause of the deaths is often attributed by state officials as "cardiac arrest," masking the role of heat.

I agree that people who commit crimes must be punished, and prisons should not really be cushy. And what about the prison guards that have to work in those conditions?

But the Texas system is dangerous. As Texas Tribune reports:

"More than two-thirds of Texas' 100 prisons don't have air conditioning in most living areas. Every summer, as temperatures routinely soar well into the triple digits, thousands of offices and tens of thousands of prisoners are cramped inside concrete and steel buildings without ventilation, save windows broken out of desperation and fans that blow hot air. The heat has killed prisoners, likely contributed to severe staff shortages and cost taxpayers millions of dollars wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits over the last decade."

By the way, Texas lawmakers, as usual did not put any money directly toward installing air conditioning in the hot prisons, despite a $32.7 billion budget surplus, Texas Tribune says. 

Over in California, they've had a pretty cool year so far. That's changing now. Much of the Golden State is under excessive heat warnings and advisories. Temperatures are expected to reach the triple digits in the Central Valley.

So much snow fell in the Sierra Nevada mountains this past winter that a lot of it is still there. Melting will become rapid during this heat wave, so creeks and rivers flowing out of the mountains could flood. Plus, people tempted to dip into these creek waters and swimming holes could be endangered by the very cold water flowing in them. 

The good news is the part of the heat dome over Texas is weakening somewhat. It will stay hot there, just not as hot as it's been.

BRUTAL STORMS

A derecho swept across a swath of the Midwest late Wednesday through much of the day Thursday. It started with a supercell with an impressive tornado in the southwest corner of Nebraska late Wednesday, then a streak of big hail and damaging winds overnight in Kansas and Nebraska, followed by a great gush of thunderstorm winds of up to 100 mph roaring through parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. 

AccuWeather radar image of the derecho in the Midwest
Thursday. When a line of storms forms a backwards "C"
like this, winds at the front of the C are especially intense.

I'm sure damage totals will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not more, given the huge area this storm covered. It also hit populated areas like Springfield, Peoria and Champagne, Illinois and and Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Cities suffered widespread tree damage and downed power lines that in some instances will take days to fix. In the hardest hit towns, where winds reached 100 mph, roofs flew off buildings and houses, grain bins blew away and outbuildings were shattered.

More severe storms are expected today.  This is something called the "ring of fire."  Weather disturbances ride along the northern edges of that so-called heat dome in the South.  These disturbances tap into the extreme heat and high moisture content of the air to create violent storms. 

"Ring of fire" storms are pretty common June through much of August.

Some of the same areas hit yesterday are under the gun today and tomorrow. Not many tornadoes are forecast, but many storms with destructive winds and hail are expected to blossom

UP HERE IN VERMONT

Nothing so dramatic is in the cards for Vermont, but that doesn't mean the weather will be completely benign. 

Today still actually looks fairly nice, despite the wildfire smoke that has prompted a continuation of the air quality alert.  It's still not as bad as last Sunday, but people with health problems, the elderly and very young should try to limit their activity outdoors. 

At least it won't rain for once. But it will still be a bit on the humid side.

The real humidity and the shower threat comes back tomorrow and last through much of the upcoming week. A few showers and thunderstorms might rumble through tomorrow. 

Those showers will be more widespread on Sunday, so once again, we'll have to watch for the chance of a localized instance of flash flooding or two somewhere in the state. If any flooding happens, it won't be widespread, but could cause real trouble in a town or two.

Hit and miss storms will continue through much of the upcoming week amid the persistent humidity. It won't rain all the time, but you might find yourself dodging a downpour or thunderstorm or two during your Fourth of July fun Monday through Wednesday.

There's a chance a cold front could finally diminish the humidity in about a week, but that is an uncertain proposition to say the least. 

It's possible that welcome cold front could fall apart before it ever gets here. Stay tuned. 

 

More Needed Rain Coming To Vermont. And A Weird Severe Storm Outbreak In U.S. South

Satellite photo from this morning clearly shows
clouds from upper level storm in the eastern
Great Lakes that will move east, giving
us here in Vermont numerous showers and 
thunderstorms this afternoon and evening.

 The weather gods overcame my cynicism that we could finally get a decent rainfall Vermont yesterday. 

Pretty much everybody in Vermont saw a half inch to an inch of rain with several places weighing in with over an inch. 

That helps the drought situation, but doesn't solve it.  Digging in my garden soil last evening, I still encountered dusty conditions a couple inches down in some spots. But we'll take progress!

Apparently, more rain is also coming, despite the bright blue skies you saw in many areas this morning. 

Overall, another half inch to an inch of rain seems pretty possible in much of Vermont through Friday, with some locations seeing up to 1.5 inches during that period. 

The rainfall today through Friday will be more of the shower and thunderstorm type variety, so there will be the inevitable winners and losers. Some of us will get a great deal of rain. Some of us might end up in the "meh" category.

A strong upper level low will be responsible for today's showers and storms. It looks like southern Vermont might see the heaviest rain, but pretty much all of us should get something. Upper lows like this dramatically cool the upper atmosphere. 

That means some of the strongest storms might have some small hail and gusty winds. Although there might be an isolated report or two by the end of the day of severe weather, don't bank on it. This won't be anything especially scary. Mostly just beneficial. 

The real scary stuff will happen today in the Deep South. More on that in a minute. 

Thursday will feature more afternoon shower and storms, but they won't be as widespread as they are forecast to be this afternoon and evening. 

If current forecasts hold, the showers and a few thunderstorms will become somewhat more widespread again Friday and Saturday.  After that, we'll tend to start drying out, though scattered showers are still in the forecast for Sunday through next Tuesday.]

DEEP SOUTH STORM DANGER

Well, this is a weird little development.

A rare for the season severe thunderstorm and 
tornado outbreak is forecast in the red and
orange areas of this map across 
the Deep South today. 

Widespread severe storm and tornado outbreaks are common in the Deep South in the winter into early to mid spring. By May, the jet stream moves north into the central and northern United States and southern Canada. 

The jet stream helps power big storm outbreaks. So when the jet stream moves north, say goodbye to Southern tornado swarms for the season. 

 Lots of thunderstorms continue to hit the humid South over the summer, but they are just those pop up things. Some of those late spring and summer southern storms can be severe, but those are isolated cases.

Which brings us today's odd forecast.

A big outbreak of severe storms, with strong straight line winds, giant hail, and tornadoes, a couple of which might be quite strong, are forecast to hit a zone in the Deep South from extreme eastern Texas all the way to the Georgia coastline. 

Forecasters are even talking about the possibility of a derecho in that region later today. A derecho is a long lasting, fast moving cluster of intense thunderstorms. To qualify as a derecho, the system needs to travel at least 240 miles, frequently sending wind gusts to over 58 mph along its path. 

Derechos are usually very destructive. Just ask anyone in Iowa that was hit by one in August, 2020, which turned out to be the most costly thunderstorm in U.S. history.   Or people in southern Ontario and Quebec that experienced one in May, 2022 that killed 10 people and was among the most expensive weather disasters in modern Canadian history.

Derechos are kind of infrequent, maybe happening only five or fewer times per year in the United States. You'll sometimes find them in the Midwest, Northern Plains, Great Lakes, Northeast and southern Canada during the summer months.  (We can get them here in Vermont, too, but they're quite rare).

The potential destructive day in the South follows three days of severe storms that have already raked an area from Texas to the southern Appalachians.  Hail the size of baseballs or large hit communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for three days in a row starting Saturday. 

 I bet those hail storms in Texas caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. This overall southern storm outbreak will almost certainly rank as yet another $1 billion or more dollar disaster for the U.S. 

The culprit in all this is that jet stream.  It didn't get the memo to move north, so it's racing over the South, helping to fuel these intense storms. The very humid air that is normal in the South this time of year is working with those strong high level winds to create this dangerous situation. 

The Southern storms aren't heading north, though. As noted, we up here in Vermont will see thunderstorm from our own, separate storm, but nothing destructive is expected. Bring on those New England rains!

Widespread Severe Storms, Floods Striking Much Of U.S., Vermont Spared As Usual

A SD DOT traffic cam caught the eerie green hue
of a derecho blowing into Sioux Falls, South Dakota Tuesday

Very often, when a severe heat wave hits parts of the United States, severe weather, including sometimes derechos, blast areas just to the north of the hot zone.  

That has certainly been the case the past couple of days, and will be the case for a couple more.  

A long lasting heat wave has settled in over the south central U.S. Meanwhile a large area north of the heat is being raked by repeated intense storms and flash floods. 

 The severe weather over the weekend and into this week has extended from Montana, through the nation's midsection, then on the Mid-Atlantic States.  The rough weather has been passing far to the south and west of Vermont, and that trend will continue for at least a week or so. No scary weather for us.

It's certainly been scary elsewhere. South Dakota and parts of Minnesota and Iowa were smacked by a derecho yesterday, the second one to hit that region this year. To remind  you of the definition of a derecho, it's a packet of intense, persistent thunderstorms that travel at least 240 miles, and creating numerous reports of winds gusting to more than 58 mph.

Winds sure gusted past that in South Dakota Tuesday. Howard, South Dakota, saw a gust of 99 mph. Frequent wind gusts of 70 mph or more were recorded there for more than 20 minutes. Huron reported a gust to 96 mph, the second time in two months that a thunderstorm brought 90 mp gusts to Huron.'

The airport in Sioux Falls clocked a peak wind of 80 mph. Gusts of over 58 mph lasted for a good 45 minutes there. I saw numerous reports from South Dakota and Iowa of gusts in the 65 to 85 mph range. 

In Sioux Falls, the storm blew in with an intense, otherworldly green color in the sky. As the National Weather Service describes it, the sky takes on a bit of a reddish color in the late afternoon and evening as the sun begins to approach the horizon. All that rain and hail in the storm cloud scatters blue light. when the reddish light is scattered by the blue water/hail tones in the storms, you get green. 

Judging from the photos, the green sky really outdid itself yesterday in Sioux Falls.  

Another pocket of severe weather hit areas around Maryland, Virginia and the Washington DC area. A tornado touched down and caused damage around Bowie, Maryland. 

While anyone in that band from Montana to the East Coast could see more severe weather today, the places to watch in particular are Montana, the Ohio Valley and the Carolinas. Same is true Wedneday and Thursday. 

Another outbreak of severe storms is then likely later in the week in and around North Dakota and Minnesota.

I'm also struck by how widespread the flood risk is with this. A huge band from northeastern Colorado to Virginia is at risk for flash floods today. Not everyone in this zone will see a flood, but there will be pockets in this big area with dangerous floods.  Fort Wayne, Indiana, hit by its highest wind gust (98 mph) on record during a severe thunderstorm in June, suffered a nasty flash flood Tuesday. 

Five to as much as eight inches of rain poured down near Fort Wayne Tuesday. Fort Wayne itself had 2.83 inches of rain, tying the record for most rain on a single July day. That city, along with swaths of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia, are under threat for more torrential rain today. Columbus Ohio already dealt with flash floods early this morning.  

Many of these same areas are under the gun Thursday and Friday, too, especially east of the Mississippi River'

Well away from the heat dome and its "ring of fire" storms, we in Vermont sit in a northwest air flow from Canada. That has lasted for weeks now and shows few signs of letting up. 

The good news is this is giving us frequent spells of sunshine, pleasant temperatures and low humidity. The bad news is any weather system that comes through doesn't have all that much moisture to work with. So rainfall over the past week to 10 days has been fairly lame. Little rain is in the forecast until at least next Tuesday.    

VIDEO

YouTuber 8th C.Elisabeth shot this video of Tuesday's very green severe storm rolling into Sioux Falls, South Dakota, The videographer said they did not color correct the video, so the green you see is what people in Sioux Falls saw Click on this link to view, or watch below:

Another Derecho, This Time In Midwest, And Yellowstone Drowns

All those blue and black dots extending from Wisconsin
 to West Virginia represent storm damage reports from
an apparent derecho yesterday and last night. 

 Along the western, northern and eastern edges of big heat waves, you often see violent thunderstorms, the so called "Ring Of Fire" I talked about earlier this week. 

That is certainly the case with the current record heat wave gripping the middle and south of the nation. An apparent derecho formed yesterday afternoon, bringing winds gusts of up to 84 mph at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and a 98 mph gust to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Meanwhile, out on the northwest edge of the heat, an unprecedented flood hit areas in and near Yellowstone National Park.

DERECHO

It's already been a bad year for derechos, which are defined as damaging and dangerous thunderstorm complexes that travel at least 240 miles, spreading destruction along the way. 

I don't think it's been officially declared yet, but it's apparent a derecho originated in southern Wisconsin Monday afternoon, then roared southeastward through the Chicago area, Indiana, Ohio and into West Virginia. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center logged 382 thunderstorm wind reports yesterday and last night, most of them in the Wisconsin to West Virginia swath. 

In Chicago, tornado sirens blared and echoed around downtown skyscrapers. No tornado is known so far to have touched down, but there was plenty of wind damage with those 84 mph gusts. Many cars and houses were damaged by falling trees. The roof of a three story apartment building peeled away. 

Travelers at O'Hare were ordered into below ground shelters or packed themselves into rest rooms, which double as tornado shelters. The air traffic control tower was evacuated, there was obviously a ground stop on all flights, so everything was and still is badly disrupted. Some planes had to be checked for hail damage before being allowed to fly. 

At least 44,000 people were without power. Some won't have their power back until after today. Record heat and humidity is forecast today in Chicago.

That 98 mph wind gust in Fort Wayne is the strongest ever recorded in that city. A SkyWest hangar near the airport was blown to pieces.  Extensive tree damage and widespread power outages continued on into Ohio and parts of West Virginia. All these areas are under the gun for record heat today. Many people will have to endure the heat without air conditioning. 

If last night's weather is confirmed as a derecho, it will already be the third destructive and deadly one to hit North America this year. On May 12, a derecho, accompanied by dust storms struck South Dakota and neighboring parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota, killing two people and causing widespread damage, including the South Dakota cities of Sioux Falls, Watertown and Brookings.

Another derecho in southern Ontario and Quebec hit the most populated section of Canada on May 21 causing at least ten deaths in towns near Toronto and Ottawa. 

Part of a house falls into a flooding river in Gardiner, Montana
Monday during unprecedented flooding in and near 
Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Steve Rupho via CNN

YELLOWSTONE FLOOD

On the northwest side of the heat wave, high temperatures rapidly melted mountain snows, and torrential thunderstorms swept through areas around Yellowstone.  The combination caused unprecedented flooding in rivers across northwestern Wyoming and parts of Montana.

Yellowstone National Park was completely shut down by the flooding. The torrents swept away bridges, collapsed roads, washed away or flooded cabins and homes and stranded an unknown number of tourists. 

Luckily, the rain there is tapering off and temperatures are cooling, but the damage is done.

VERMONT IMPACTS

The Green Mountain State continues to be one of the few areas in the nation with benign weather. We have gorgeous days today and tomorrow with sunshine, seasonably warm temperatures and low humidity.

Thursday looks a bit more humid, and we'll probably see some showers and thunderstorms later Thursday into Friday. But this still looks like it won't be anything extreme. Forecasts are also steady for an unusually cool weekend and early next week. 

Storms Unexpectedly Avoided Vermont Sunday; Meanwhile Canada Deals With Sat. Derecho

Chaotic looking clouds, but no real storms over 
northern Vermont Sunday. Despite forecasts, there
was a lack of severe weather in Vermont Sunday.

 It really did seem like Vermont was primed for severe weather on Sunday. As we all know, that didn't happen. 

An interesting part of this is that the storms were expected to be most focused in northern Vermont.  Instead, most of the activity that formed was south and east of us in the Hudson Valley of New York, southern New England and the Middle Atlantic States.

Maine also experienced some activity. 

A map of storm reports from Sunday shows almost nothing in northern New England, where the bulk of damaging storms was forecast. 

I am puzzling a bit over the lack of storms, though I have some ideas. First of all, we should be happy there weren't severe storms, as who wants to deal with the damage and problems they cause?  But still, the forecast was wrong, and I'm sure local meteorologists are analyzing why. 

I have training in meteorology but am not a full-blown meteorologist, so I tend to defer to the experts.  One thing I noticed late Sunday morning and afternoon was that the clouds that were in the sky had a sort of "stable" look to them, like there wasn't anything triggering a lift.  It made me wonder a little if the predicted storms would develop. I guess my gut was right in this instance.

I didn't mention this in my updates to this here blog thingy Sunday, as I didn't want to contradict the messaging coming from real meteorologists. Adding my doubts to a volatile forecast would have been confusing to readers. And perhaps some people would have let their guard down if I expressed my doubts. Then, had severe storms developed, there was a chance that whoever read my posts might be unprepared. 

Anyway, the rest of the ingredients were there. It was quite humid, as we well know. A cold front was approaching, which would have created lift in the atmosphere, creating that severe weather risk.

The thinking was a line of storms would form just ahead of the cold front, with renegade strong storms out ahead of it.  

The blue and occasional green dots on this map indicate
reports of severe thunderstorms Sunday. Note that northern
Vermont and New Hampshire, which were considered
the most likely target for severe weather Sunday,
had no reports of damaging winds or big hail

That is precisely what tried to happen. I saw pop up showers on radar quickly form in Vermont, mostly along the west slopes of the Green Mountains and then race eastward. But they didn't grow into severe storms and sort of just petered out on their way toward the Connecticut River Valley. 

Strong winds aloft can make thunderstorms worse. But under certain conditions, the strong winds can rip the top off thunderstorms, stopping them in their tracks. I wonder if that was part of the problem with Sunday's situation.

Meanwhile, that expected line of storms sort of, kinda formed in New York and crossed into Vermont in the late afternoon and evening. But there was no lightning and the showers were wimpy.  The line of basically sprinkles did produce a gust front with winds of 30 to 35 mph.

You might have noticed it turned a bit hazy during that period of northwest wind gusts. That was sort of a pollen haboob.  The gust front blew tons of pollen from trees and other plants.  Allergy sufferers in northern Vermont must have had a rough Sunday evening. 

I think this line of wannabe storms didn't materialize into something strong because stable air was running out ahead of the actual cold front, which was right behind this little gust front thingy.

On the bright side, the forecast for the today and tomorrow is easy. Just nice. High clouds might dim the sun at times today, but it will be refreshingly cool and dry, with highs in the low 60s.

The coldest hollows of the Northeast Kingdom and Adirondacks are at risk for some frost tonight, but the vast majority of us will be fine, garden wise. Tomorrow looks nice, too, with highs a little warmer, approaching a near-normal 70 degrees or so.

CANADA DERECHO

We in Vermont really dodged a bullet Saturday. True, there were some severe storms around. However, a deadly derecho in southeastern Canada missed us by a mere 100 miles or so. 

The derecho, which swept across some of the most populated regions of southern Ontario and Quebec, killed at least 8 people and caused widespread damage.  At least a half million people lost electricity. The storms were so powerful that some large metal transmission towers toppled in the winds, which gusted as high as 85 mph.  

Trees bend in hurricane force winds in this screen grab
of the derecho in Ontario Saturday.

The derecho originated in Michigan and swept through the Toronto metropolitan area and then on to Ottawa.  It weakened somewhat by the time it reached Montreal and Quebec City, but was still powerful enough to cause damage there. 

As in many derechos, the damage was concentrated in some towns while others got off with relatively light damage. The town of Uxbridge, north of Toronto, and Clarence-Rockland, east of Ottawa, suffered considerable damage to buildings, to the point where a number of homes in those communities are too damaged to be occupied.  

It might take a week or more to get power back to everyone in the derecho zone. 

Videos. As always, if you don't see the image of the video on your screen, click the hyperlinks. : 

The derecho sweeps into downtown Ottawa:

The title of this video is "Ottawa Rain Storm"  You're telling me! 

Impressive Derecho, Storms And Dust Swept The Northern Plains Thursday

Violet storm and haboob approaching Sioux Falls,
South Dakota last week. Photo via twitter, @NancyAllard17

While we await some potential severe weather later today, I am still agog at the wild storms that swept through parts of the Midwest this past Thursday.  

The storms later today might be dangerous, but Thursday's episode was in a league of its own. 

An impressive line of storms known as a derecho swept through a good chunk of Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota Thursday with wind gusts as high as 107 mph.  Needless to say, widespread damage was left behind.

The storm has been blamed for three deaths.

The storms were a derecho, defined as a fast moving line of intense thunderstorms that lasts for many hours. By definition a derecho produces a swath of damage of at least 240 miles and causes frequent wind gusts of at least 58 mph.

Thursday's event easily met this criteria.  

Preliminary data indicates there were 55 reports of wind gusts of at least 75 mph. This ranks second in the number of such reports with a derechos. Thursday's derecho now means the top four highest wind speed derechos, at least as measured by the number of hurricane-force wind gust reports, have happened in the past two years. 

The derecho with the biggest number of 75 mph+ reports was 64 with a storm last December. Ranking third is the Iowa derecho of August, 2010, which was the most expensive thunderstorm in U.S. history.  Iowa has now been hit with three of the top four worst derechos. 

Thursday's derecho focused its fury on eastern Nebraska and eastern South Dakota, and large swaths of Iowa and Minnesota. 

As the storms briefly turned day into night, the howling winds caused immense damage. 

In Tripp, South Dakota, the wind gusted to a whopping 107 mph. Drone video from the town showed four large grain elevators toppled, and structural damage to several buildings. 

The fast moving line of storms - the forward motion of these things was more than 70 mph - kicked up walls of dust. These are known as haboobs, which are huge dust storms that drop visibility to zero and are obviously very dangerous to anyone out on the highways. 

Haboobs are pretty common in places like Arizona and Texas.  But they're relatively rare in the central and northern Plains. At least they've been rare since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.

At least five tornadoes were embedded within this derecho. The worst was in Castlewood, South Dakota where a tornado swept through the middle of town, badly damaging the community school and destroying a number of houses.

Video.

As always, click on the links if you can't see the video displayed in this post on your device.

Here's video from the Argus Leader of the haboob sweeping into Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

Fox Weather obtained video of the tornado and storm sweeping into Castlewood, South Dakota:

Kevin W. Ray captured the approach of the storm and a tree falling in his Sioux Falls neighborhood:

 

Iowa Derecho Was Nation's Most Costly Thunderstorm

The derecho that swept through Iowa on August 10 turns out to be very likely the most costly thunderstorm event in United States history. 

Debris from the August derecho in Iowa was covered
in unseasonable snow on Monday. Photo via Twitter
 from Rebecca Kopelman @KopelmanWX 

You think of thunderstorms causing local damage, since they're usually relatively small in area. 

But this derecho was so strong and so widespread, it ended up causing at least $7.5 billion in damage, according to reports from the Washington Post and NPR.

Yes, I am still a little obsessed with this Iowa derecho because it was so unusual. The length of its path was long - about 770 miles - which is pretty lengthy but not outstanding for a derecho.

The remarkable part of this storm was how intense it was.  

Widespread areas had gusts in the 80 to 100 mph range, with a peak wind estimated at 140 mph.  In any given place in most of Iowa, the worst of the storm lasted a half hour or more, which is an awfully long time to have such strong winds blowing from thunderstorms.

No wonder the destruction was so great.  In Cedar Rapids, about 90 percent of homes and businesses had at least some damage.  Roughly 1,000 homes in Iowa were destroyed. 

The storm came at the worst time of year for crops, NPR notes. Corn was tall before the storm, making it easier for the winds to slam the corn stalks to the ground.  Had this storm occurred in the spring or early summer, the corn would have been shorter and more able to withstand the winds.

At this point, it looks like the Iowa derecho is so far the second most expensive weather disaster in the United States this year.  Only Hurricane Laura in Louisiana was worse, with estimated damages there at around $14 billion. 

The closest comparable derecho in terms of destruction I could find was one that extended from Ohio and Michigan to the Mid-Atlantic States in June, 2012.  That one caused about $2.9 billion in damage. 

In Iowa, the amount of debris from the derecho is so immense that a lot of it hasn't been removed yet. Big piles of wreckage line city streets in Cedar Rapids and elsewhere. 

To add insult to injury, an unexpectedly heavy and early season batch of snow squalls Monday dumped up to seven inches of snow on some of the areas most affected by the August 10 derecho. 

"Iowa's Katrina": Slow Response To Huge Disaster Cripples Cedar Rapids, Other Cities

The derecho that ravaged Iowa hit nine days ago, and only now are people starting to pay attention to what some in that state are calling "Iowa's Katrina." 

Major damage in Iowa from the August 10 
derecho. Winds likely reached as high as
140 in a few spots. This is a huge disaster

The slow response to such a big disaster is a little shocking considering the scale of destruction. Close to 90 percent of all properties in Cedar Rapids alone received at least some damage. 

More than 1,000 homes in Cedar Rapids have declared uninhabitable.  Statewide, more than 8,000 homes are damaged or destroyed. Many people are going on a week and a half without electricity.

At least 14 million acres of Iowa crop land were damaged or destroyed, up from the estimate of 10 million acres reported last week. 

The lack of help has caused scenes that did remind of Katrina. There is inadequate shelter, so you have people living in roofless apartment buildings, or in tents outdoors. Children and their parents are surrounded by dangerous debris, including lots of boards with rusty nails, soggy drywall, building mold problems, wires dangling and a tangle of fallen trees. 

"It feels like I'm in a third world nation, this to me seems as if its our version of Katrina minus the deaths," said Cedar Rapids resident Kelly McMahon, as quoted by television station KCRG the other day.  "Five days in, where in the world is our government helping us out?"

Attention is finally focusing on Iowa, days later than it should have.  Major media outlets have swooped in to tell us all about it. Donald Trump was in the state yesterday pledging federal help.  People in other parts of the nation are now looking for ways to help.  Charities and GoFundMe pages are appearing.

Still, this is different from other major American disasters. Usually the response is almost immediate. Not this time.

WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

From what I can tell several factors have influenced the lack of response to the destruction in Cedar Rapids and elsewhere in Iowa. 

Iowa is not exactly the media center of the universe.  Local television stations and newspapers were on top of it from the start and did incredible work. But the force of the storm was initially missed by national media.

Derechos are lines of intense thunderstorms covering long distances. I think they can often be dismissed as severe thunderstorms, the kind many of us get every summer. People do know that derechos are more widespread and destructive than regular storms. But this one was way, way, worse and we outside Iowa were slow to realize this. 

It took time to understand the scale and breadth of the storm strength and damage. It's pretty easy to see the direction and strength of a hurricane slowly lumbering onto a shoreline city.  A derecho roars through in  just a few hours, and you don't immediately understand the scale and area hit hardest.

National Weather Service meteorologists over the past week who have been studying the damage tell us the storm was stronger, and covered a larger area than first reported. True, we had a report  immediately after the storm of a 112 mph wind gust in one town.

But meteorologists now say that winds in a few spots likely gusted to 130 mph.  There's at least one report of an estimated gust to 140 mph.  An accurately measured gusts reached 126 mph. This was a more intense derecho than most experienced meteorologists can ever recall.  Gusts of 100 mph sometimes occur in the worst derechos, but 140 mph?

The destruction was worse than many of us would have expected because we're used to severe storms lasting only a five, ten, maybe 15 minutes at most before they move on. This lasted 45 minutes in any given spot, helping to add to the damage.

 It was hard to get the word out about the destruction in the immediate aftermath of this storm.  Power was out to virtually everyone, and communications were spotty at best. Most private citizens upload videos of storms to YouTube and other social media as soon as a storm is over.  Most people in Iowa couldn't do that.  I didn't start seeing some of the more dramatic videos until days after the storm.

I think a main reason, if not THE main reason why help for Iowa is slow is because we're dealing with so much already.  The pandemic.  Black Lives Matter. Chaos in Washington. Other disasters that keep coming one on top of each other, unrelentingly.  We're all exhausted and confused.  

As I write this, wildfires are rapidly worsening in California and moving into populated areas. This could be another enormous disaster in the making.  What would be our reaction to that? The Atlantic Ocean is now bubbling with new hurricanes a possibility soon. It any of these storms grow monstrous storm and God forbids hits the United States, what then?

The only time I've seen a natural disaster in the United States with an anemic response at first was Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  But that disaster was on a much bigger scale than "Iowa's Katrina" this month. Katrina cost at least $81 billion in damage. 

I worry as we get into the heart of the deadly late summer/autumn season of destructive wildfires and dangerous hurricanes, people in need won't get the help they require. I don't have confidence the Trump administration has the capacity or the desire to provide coordinated aid.  The federal response to the pandemic, as we all know, has been pretty pathetic so far, despite the efforts of heroic medical professionals and essential workers.

As terrible as the Iowa derecho was, as devastating as it was to Iowa farmers and homeowners and residents, this disaster wasn't nearly as bad as some of the worst calamities this nation has faced in recent decades. 

I don't know how we step it up for the inevitable next disaster, but we sure have to try.   

More videos: 

The storms lasted a LONG time. This video goes on for a half hour  but it's worth watching. Gusts through most of the video keep increasing.  People must have thought it would never end. A huge gust would come, then it would calm down a bit, likely leading people to think the worst was over. Then an even bigger gust would come. Rinse and repeat as the storm kept escalating. Watch:

Here's a video explainer from a budding Cedar Rapids entrepreneur who was in his painting business shop as it was destroyed. Spoiler: He survived, and seems to have a remarkably good attitude. But still!  Both terrifying and sad. Things get really horrifying starting about 3:40 or 3:45 into the video:

Inside Edition's report on the derecho:

Iowa Derecho Likely Worst Weather Disaster This Year

The derecho that swept through the Midwest, especially Iowa, seems like it will easily go down as the worst and most costly weather disaster in the United States this year.  

You can see the lighter color inside the yellow
lines in this visible satellite photo of Iowa. That
lighter color is corn leveled by this week's
destructive derecho.

But then, this is 2020. Things always get worse.  I"m afraid a hurricane or wildfire or something later this year will be even worse.

The derecho was bad enough, though. An estimated 10 million acres of crop fields, mostly corn, was destroyed or badly damage. That 10 million acres represents about a third of Iowa's crop land. ' The damage to corn is so severe you can see it in visible satellite images. 

Farms suffered severe structural damage too, with destroyed grain bins, unroofed barns and storage facilities and even wrecked homes. Overall, some estimates put the storm damage at around $3.4 billion.

The aftermath of the storm, as is often the case, was in some ways more dangerous than the storm itself.   The Gazette of Cedar Rapids reports that the hospital in that city has seen nearly 250 emergency room visits related to the storm. Most of the visits are due to injuries suffered in the cleanup.  The stress of the disaster has also brought people with underlying medical conditions to the hospital for ailments like chest pains or lung problems. 

Hundreds of thousands of people remained without power in Iowa and surrounding states Thursday morning. You can imagine the spoiled food, the lack of communication due to failed cell towers and dead batteries, and worse, medical devices that aren't working without power.  People who have been local utilities for decades say this is the worst damage they've ever seen.

This storm is probably getting less media attention than a similar storm would have near the coasts, where most major media companies are located. 

Without a deep dive, I think most Americans probably assume that the Iowa storm was much like a severe thunderstorm commonly seen in the summer, like the Tuesday storm that felled numerous trees here in Vermont, in and around Burlington.

The Iowa derecho, though, was much worse, as the damage swaths covered hundreds of miles, essentially swallowing Iowa and large chunks of Illinois and Indiana. This will probably have effects nationwide in the form of increased food prices and such. 

Things are already bad enough with the pandemic.  We did not need this Iowa disaster. 

More videos:

A family is caught out on the road as the derecho hits, and they know they are in danger. Spoiler: They drive to a Bomgaars store to take shelter and ended up safe.  Watch:

Lots of F bombs and other swear words for understandable reasons in this video from Newton, Iowa

A Weather Channel Report on farm losses.  Pretty extreme and heartbreaking:

Derecho Wreaks Havoc In Midwest; This One Was Even Worse Than Usual

As you might have seen on the news, a huge derecho swept across the Midwest Monday, creating a wide trail of damage extending over almost 800 miles. 

Derecho damage in Des Moines, Iowa. 

A derecho is defined as a long lasting, particularly destructive line of thunderstorms that can cover 1,000 miles in just a day.  

Since they cover such a huge area of real estate, they often cause more damage than big tornadoes.  Luckily, derechos only happen a couple times a year in the United States. 

Monday's derecho was especially powerful and destructive. It started before dawn in southeastern South Dakota and rapidly strengthened as it roared across Iowa. It maintained its destructive force through Illinois and Indiana before finally weakening toward the end of the day in Ohio.

Derechos often have a few embedded tornadoes within them and Monday's probably did, too. But the real power of a derecho is the wide areas of damaging winds, with pockets of super strong straight line winds. I saw one commentator say it was basically like a Category 2 strength hurricane making  "landfall" in Iowa. 

Monday's storms had some incredible wind reports. The town of Midway, Iowa was battered by a gust of 112 mph (!!).  It wasn't just rural, relatively unpopulated areas that got nailed. Davenport, Iowa reported a gust to 86 mph.  Moline, Illinois reported 79 mph.

Winds in some neighborhoods in Chicago surely topped 70 mph, and a tornado went through one neighborhood in the city's north side. 

The saddest outcome of this derecho was in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the winds rolled a mobile home.  Rescuers found a woman holding a child beneath her under the debris. She protected the child, who had minor injuries, but the woman died. 

More than a million people lost electricity.   

Midwest derecho damage in the Midwest Monday.

Another consequence of the derecho is the flattened corn fields across much of Iowa.  Huge fields of corn were blown down, probably causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.  Commodity prices might go up because of this 

Because of the widespread damage, I would not at all be surprised if total damages exceed $1 billion. There might actually be more damage than from last week's Hurricane Isaias on the East Coast.

The weather front that helped trigger the derecho is now approaching us here in Vermont. But to emphasis, NOTHING like what happened in the Midwest will occur here. 

It is hot today, with heat advisories in many of the valleys in and around Vermont. A few scattered storms might get going later today, and a few might be strong or even severe. But any severe weather will be limited to just a very few isolated spots. Certainly nothing widespread like yesterday in the Midwest. 

Videos: 

Click on the YouTube logos on each to get a better view.

The derecho blasts by one Iowa office building in this video:

Meteorologist Nick Stewart took this view of the derecho amid Iowa's corn fields.

Andrew Pritchard filmed these scenes in northern Illinois: