Did you know that the crazy storm last week was a rare example of a derecho?
I don’t understand what it is exactly, but my dad is a big weather buff and he explained it to me. Though I still don’t understand.
Talk about this or whatever else.
by DougJ| 64 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture
Did you know that the crazy storm last week was a rare example of a derecho?
I don’t understand what it is exactly, but my dad is a big weather buff and he explained it to me. Though I still don’t understand.
Talk about this or whatever else.
Comments are closed.
Cris (without an H)
Derechos humanos?
danielx
I’d read about a derecho in a mystery a couple of years back. It was included in the novel but was actually a real world occurrence, and knocked down a bunch of trees in the North Woods in the Boundary Waters area. Fascinating but scary – tornado strength winds but straight line rather than rotating, and lasting longer than a tornado in one area.
red dog
With global warming this extreme weather will be the new norm. I am glad I live on the west coast where thing are going to remain a little cooler than normal while the rest of the nation gets warmer, according to the experts. The rising ocean level is the next worry.
jl
@Cris (without an H):
I was thinking along same lines, but came up with
Derechos borrachos, as in, ‘man, that storm was a derecho borracho’
taylormattd
This guy is great, btw: http://www.facebook.com/wxdudedk
He explained all about the derecho shit.
gVOR08
Thank you. Belive I was in one of these in Ames IA in the 70s. 80 mph straight line wind and six inches of rain in less than an hour. Didn’t know this sort of thing had a name.
Evinfuilt
@red dog:
2 derichos in two years… Still too early to tell. It could just be random, or it couLd be matching the new normal predicted.
Dave S.
One of those blew through my hometown in Wayne County NY in 1998 and sheared the tops off a bunch of trees. We had similar tree damage in Arlington VA last week.
BGinCHI
El derecho es boracho.
Maude
Is it another word for strong winds?
Violet
They’re scary. I hope it’s not the new normal.
scav
Iowa City had one during the 90s. 97? And don’t they go under the name Bow Echo or Echo Bow too? Or are there technical differences, scale or something.
scav
@Maude: Not quite. There’s an associated storm condition and physical form behind them. Durecho for straight line winds instead of Tornado for turning winds of basically equivalent force.
nodakfarmboy
@Evinfuilt: While they’re not common, two in two years isn’t all that shocking. I actually experienced two in two nights during the Heat Wave Derecho outbreak of 1995.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_Wave_of_1995_Derecho_Series
My family was at a lake cabin in north central Minnesota, surrounded by pine forest. With their shallow root system, the trees didn’t stand a chance. Watching massive trees falling all around us (and onto our cabin) was one of the most amazing, frightening things I’d ever seen…
And then it happened again, the next night. Before the second storm, I sat up listening to radio reports from towns to the west, as the derecho made its way east. It was incredibly eerie- you knew it was going to hit, and knew what kind of damage it was going to inflict because you’d seen it the night before, but time seemed to drag on forever waiting for it to arrive.
It took them several days to clear the road of fallen trees before we could get out and go home. Electricity took weeks if not months to restore. It was fun roughing it for a couple days, but I was glad we got to beat a retreat a few days after the storms.
Maude
@scav:
Thx.
cckids
I lived thru one in Nebraska in 1993. I’d been through lots of tornadoes, warnings & watches, but this was something else. I was on the phone with my dad, who lived about 80 miles away & he was telling me about the storm that had just blown through his town & that I should get ready. Just then I could feel it hit; really feel it slam into the house & trees. Huge limbs started falling, and a potted plant I had on my front porch went airborne for almost 30 feet–straight, like a thrown baseball. The thing had to weigh close to 40 lbs. It was one of the two scariest storms I’ve lived through.
ericblair
@red dog:
Nope, you’re not allowed to talk about global warming unless it’s February and there’s just been over two feet of snow. Then you’re allowed to say “gee, wish there was actually some global warming right about now, durr hurr,” comment that Al Gore has let himself go a bit, and resume picking your nose.
Redshift
@nodakfarmboy: Two in two years may not be all that shocking for Minnesota, but it’s insane for the Mid-Atlantic. They’re apparently a common feature in the upper Midwest/Inter-mountain West, but we’ve never had them here. A type of weather system shifting to a different climate zone is pretty much the definition of climate change.
Redshift
Um, yeah. Here where it hit, we got to learn this new vocabulary word when it was on its way, and we’ve been hearing the word nonstop since.
bemused
@danielx:
We remember that storm well living 60 miles or less from the Boundary Waters. There was a lot of damage, trees down, power outages in our area as well. I had just left home to drive to the family lake cabin that July 4th when the storm hit fast. It was raining so hard the highway was like a stream and I stopped at a neighbor’s home until it stopped. Scary. The rest of the day was somewhat drizzly but calm. It took a long time, days, to clear away the downed trees in the hardest hit populated areas.
Bethanyanne
How did I manage to miss Betty Bowers’ YouTube videos until last night?
Betty Bowers Explains Traditional Marriage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFkeKKszXTw
Betty Bowers: Less is Mormon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E4M39FRIGc&feature=relmfu
Served
My hometown got hit by a derecho/sustained straightline winds a couple of years ago. Completely tore a cut across the county, whole groups of threes downed in the same direction (the main tell that it wasn’t a tornado), older brick buildings collapsed, lots of roofs upended and whatnot.
In a way, it’s scarier than a tornado, because it’s widespread and sustained. A tornado is a more vicious, localized threat, and also more chaotic (and photogenic).
Chris from Arlington, VA
I lost power from Friday night to Tuesday morning, and some people in my office had no power until Thursday. I know all too well about that Derecho. It was also 100° and oppressively humid.
I blame Al Gore.
TG Chicago
Holy fuck. I’m so glad to finally see somebody else saying this:
(emphasis added)
I have no idea why Obama doesn’t point this out. It’s not class warfare if EVERYBODY is getting a tax cut. And everybody is! For 98% of Americans, it’s a tax cut on all income. For the richest of the rich, it’s still a tax cut on their first quarter million.
JPL
@ericblair: I disagree. Sometime during the next two weeks, the President will be blamed for rising food prices caused by guess what.
ericblair
Here are the US Olympic Team uniforms. Okay, WTF is with the berets, and the ribbon thing on the beret looks like French colors more than American. Cheetos will be hurled angrily in basements all across America, methinks.
He’s got a house or something, you know.
Wazmo
@bemused: That was indeed a MOFO derecho. That’s why I got one of these.
Violet
@ericblair:
No, that’s resume turning your heat up to 85 degrees, driving your Range Rover from the front door to the mailbox, and using a gas powered snow blower to clear all the snow, even if you just have a dusting.
Cris (without an H)
I have no idea why nobody ever seems to understand the difference between marginal and effective rates. People are always all “oh no when I start making 36K I’ll be in a NEW TAX BRACKET” without any sense that that new bracket is only going to affect a sliver of their income.
ruemara
There’s too much concern happening in the world so in light of that, today’s win of the internets.
Cris (without an H)
Sharia?
Steeplejack
@Chris from Arlington, VA:
Yeah, my power (in Falls Church) was out from Friday night (the 29th) until sometime late Thursday.
Also, the Weather Channel has upgraded their Web site and now provides a lot more “what actually happened” information instead of just predictions. We’ve had quite the heat wave here. My high temps from July 4 through yesterday: 100°, 101°, 99°, 106°(!), 102° and 87°. Yesterday felt positively balmy.
bemused
@Wazmo:
We have a short wave radio but that looks a good item to get especially living in the north woods.
RossinDetroit
Derecho, huh? It’s nice to know what to blame. Our power was out for 50 hours in 100+ degree weather. Phone lines are still down due to a collaborative urban clusterfuck involving a tree. I’m going through Internet withdrawal, as I only have web access at work and need to be working here instead of surfing.
OTOH, I think my blood pressure is down 10 points from political madness being removed from my life.
jl
@red dog:
” I am glad I live on the west coast where thing are going to remain a little cooler than normal while the rest of the nation gets warmer ”
This west coastener read that too, and is also glad we get a slight respite. IIRC, due to warming induced changes in southward flow of cold currents along coast from arctic.
But for California, wetter wet years with a lot more flooding separated by longer droughts, and worse winter storm surges, come along with that.
I better hit the beaches and the beautiful big Sierra none too drought tolerant trees now while they are still there.
So, we will have plenty of problems.
skippy
hey, sorry to toot my own horn, but today marks my 10 year blogiversary of contiguous blogging!
thanks to john and dougj and all the balloon juicers who have supported me and my co-bloggers’ efforts over the years
NonyNony
@Cris (without an H):
Because someone would have to explain it to them.
And reporters don’t generally understand how marginal income taxes work either. Because if they could do math most of them wouldn’t have gone into journalism.
jl
@skippy: Congratulations. Did you ever see any coin from the cable news people for using your stuff?
Violet
@NonyNony: I keep trying to comment about this issue and my comments just vanish. Shorter: Diane R e h m’s show had a caller making that exact point today. She asked one of her guests, a C a t o guy, for his comment after the caller made the point and the C a t o guy was unable to respond quickly. He grudgingly had to admit that yes, everyone got the same cut, then went on about poor, poor job creators. Made it pretty clear that it’s a very good line of attack.
scav
@NonyNony: And some people go into math because they don’t have the people skills to handle the front counter at McDonalds. Whoop de do.
gnomedad
This meme occurred to me whilst daydreaming, but of course on the intertubz somebody always got there first. Nicely executed.
Omnes Omnibus
@TG Chicago: He does. He spoke on exactly this on July 9 for example. Go to the White House website; they have the text of his speeches.
skippy
@jl: lol, no jl, blogging is, as my wife says, as lucrative as sitting around watching saturday morning cartoons.
but thanks for the kind words!
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Violet:
The name of that institute was used as a nym by a troll who got thwacked with John’s banhammer, so that’s why the comment kept vanishing.
Culture of Truth
Yes I did, actually. Did you know the first half of 2012 is the hottest on record?
DougJ
@skippy:
Congrats!
NonyNony
@scav:
Um, whut? Some people do go into math because they don’t have the people skills to go into politics, but I don’t know anyone who actively chooses an undergraduate degree in math because taking the classes to get them into the front counter at McDonalds was too difficult.
In contrast I’ve known a few journalism majors who tried to get business degrees and couldn’t get past the basic math requirements, but could write a coherent sentence so they fell into journalism.
Violet
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Thanks. I spelled it out because I thought it might be a culprit. I wish there were a way to differentiate between banned nyms and words in context. Pretty soon someone will use a word like “the” or “and” as a username, get banned, and we’ll all be unable to post.
Violet
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): An along those lines, let me repost it, since it turns out I can go back on that tab and see the comment. I’ll spell out the C a t o.
Repost:
@TG Chicago:
I was in the car this morning and had NPR on. It was the Diana Rehm show. She had some people talking about the tax code–one from C a t o and one from some non-wingnut group. A caller made that exact point, that EVERYONE is getting a tax cut on the FIRST 250K of their income. It’s just above that that they wouldn’t if the Bush tax cuts on higher incomes expire.
Diane Rehm asked the C a t o guy to comment and you could tell he wasn’t prepared. He hemmed and hawed and said, yes they’d get tax cuts, but it wasn’t enough and poor, poor job creators and so forth. It was pretty funny. And a good sign that that way of presenting the tax cut issue would work. People understand it when you explain it like that and wingnuts don’t know what to say. Win!
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@TG Chicago: Everyone should go to the White House website, write Obama, and tell him to start talking about it that way. I generally get a reply to something I send after a couple of weeks, so someone is reading them, and if enough people say it, maybe Obama will change they way he talks about it.
Culture of Truth
Is it the… largest tax cut in American history!?!?!
scav
@NonyNony: Your assumption that math skills are inherently better than all other skills and thus the necessary objective of all rational beings is revealing, as is your not getting the jokey bit.
trollhattan
@jl:
As long as you don’t live in Southern California (like half the West Coast populace).
http://encino.patch.com/articles/study-southern-california-to-get-hot-hot-hot-fad4b9f0
MikeJ
Everybody’s coming from the winter vacation
Taking in the sun in a exaltation to you
Dee Loralei
We had one in Memphis 7 or so years ago. Man that was terrifying. Hurricane force winds coming in a straight line. Raining so hard, water was coming up from under my front door. And the door had a weather strip. Lots of trees down all over the city. Our electricity came back on within 30 hours, but much of the city was without power for at least a week. And some folks were without for a month or more.
We called it Hurricane Elvis.
trollhattan
@Violet:
It’s almost painful to watch, when they have to go off-script. My standard “job creators need the tax break” retort is, “Since the lower tax rates didn’t create jobs or raise wages over decade they’ve been in place, how are they going to do so now?”
Origuy
Some great old-time photos of the American West by photographer Timothy O’Sullivan. Many were the first photos taken of places like the Snake River and Canyon de Chelly. It’s from the Daily Mail, so don’t read the comments.
TG Chicago
@Omnes Omnibus: I just looked at the text of his July 9 speech on taxes, and I didn’t see anything of the sort.
He specifically says “While I disagree on extending tax cuts for the wealthy, because we just can’t afford them, I recognize that not everybody agrees with me on this. On the other hand, we all say we agree that we should extend the tax cuts for 98 percent of the American people. ”
But it’s not “98 percent of the American people” whose taxes are lowered under this plan (compared to allowing the current cuts to expire). It’s 100 percent!
BTW, I just saw that Dan Amira is also talking about this. Glad to see that it’s getting a small amount of traction. Let’s hope it picks up!
DougJ
@MikeJ:
Thank you. Without cleek around, I was afraid no one would get it.
MoeLarryAndJesus
This deserves its own thread, but RIP Dennis Flemion of the Frogs, who drowned this past weekend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w47UTD2ugMY
Omnes Omnibus
@TG Chicago: Okay, I see your point. While you are right about how the tax cuts actually function, explaining it would require Obama to get everyone to understand marginal rates. He is more likely to succeed in getting the Illinois Nazi Party endorsement that in getting the majority of people to understand marginal tax rates. The 98% argument is close enough to true and easy to understand.
Catsy
@red dog:
This, for me as well. With the exception of a few odd bursts of heat, this year has been exceptionally cold–five to ten degrees colder than the historical averages. We had snow in Seattle in March, FFS.
Wazmo
@bemused: Yep. You can program it to respond to only events that matter to you (i.e.; why do I need to worry about a hurricane in ND?-some alerts (Nuclear fault, Presidential Broadcast) can NOT be turned off) and to as many NWS regions as you need it to handle. And so far, I have found that it works well. Even better still is that you can hang external antennas and it has separate colored alert LEDs for Tests/Info, Watches and Warnings. And it takes orndinary AA’s for battery backups.
Even tho the NWS is supposed to deploy SMS messaging for warnings to late-generation phones automatically, it’ll be some time before it has the majority of cellphone users covered-the good thing about the NWS plan is that if you travel, it sends the alerts based on where you physcially are at the time they issue an alert-no need to go to AccuWaeather.com and tweak your settings.
Bas-O-Matic
@Dee Loralei:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/kc1982mem2003pwrpage.htm
It was almost exactly 9 years ago (July 22, 2003). I remember the date so clearly because that’s the year my wife and I got married and the year I started law school.
The storm took out power to 750K people over its entire area and about 325K in the Memphis metro. About 75k were without power after a week. 3/4 of all traffic lights were taken out.
My wife and I were actually on our honeymoon out of the country when it happened. We didn’t know a thing about it until we were trying to call ahead to confirm our ride from the airport about 3 days later. We were fortunate in that we only had to deal with no powers for a day and a half. A friend of mine didn’t get power for 12 days. And the three days after it turned on, it went off again for another three days.