To Derecho or Not to Derecho...What does this mean?

[KoKo]

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/was-tuesday-storm-derecho/68445

To Derecho or Not to Derecho
Alex Sosnowski
By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist
Jul 26, 2012; 8:00 PM ET
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This image by Grover C. captures the derecho moving over Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 24, 2012.

The use of the term "derecho" used by the weather media to describe Tuesday's damaging thunderstorms raised a stir on social media.

The system that struck this past Tuesday downed trees and power lines from around Chicago, Ill., to Bristol, Tenn.

Until this past June, the use of the term may have been unknown to many people outside of the Central States. However, you can bet that in the wake of the storms on June 29, 2012, most people in the swath from West Virginia to Washington, D.C., have a good idea what it is and what it can do.

These powerful complexes of thunderstorms have been no stranger to the Plains and Midwest and have been documented for well over 100 years.

In 2009, a derecho slammed portions of Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky and other Midwest states with widespread damage and power outages.

AccuWeather meteorologist Jesse Ferrell gives his take on Tuesday's derecho on his WeatherMatrix blog.

"Derecho" is a Spanish word that means "straight ahead" or "direct." The word was first used to describe powerful straight-line winds produced by thunderstorms in 1888 by University of Iowa physics professor, Dr. Gustavus Hinrichs.

The definition of derecho by the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is as follows, "A widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of 'rapidly moving' showers or thunderstorms that can produce damage similar in magnitude to a tornado, but from a single direction, rather than a rotation."

More of this "Brain Twister" at......

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/was-tuesday-storm-derecho/68445

[mia]

1. New Yorkers advised "to keep their pants on"...

Not to discount extreme weather events...

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/07/derecho-new-york-nyc.html


Follow these safety tips closely and you'll be okay.


Make sure to take inside anything that you might have on your balcony or fire escape or in your backyard which could blow over and kill someone: chairs, potted plants, the Samurai sword collection you keep outside for some reason, etc....

You could lose power tonight, so if you have a smart phone, charge it and download a flashlight app. If you're one of the eight people in New York who doesn't have a smart phone yet, buy a flashlight if those still exist....

Keep your pants on at all times. Whatever the worst-case scenario is tonight, it requires pants.

When the derecho passes, take off your pants. They are no longer necessary.