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Mid-July Derechos of 1995
July 13, 2021 at 08:57 AM EDT
By WeatherBug's Intern Meteorologist, Christopher Smith
July often brings hot, sultry summer air that can fuel intense thunderstorms. 26 years ago, during mid-July, a series of derechos struck the Northern Tier from the northern Plains to New England.
A derecho is formally defined as a complex of storms that delivers severe wind gusts of at least 58 mph, with several 75 mph instances, across a stretch of more than 250 miles. From July 11th to 15th, 1995, four separate derechos punished the Northern Tier.
The catalyst for the intense series of storms was a massive dome of high pressure responsible for bubbling hot temperatures across the Midwest and Lower Great Lakes. On the outskirt of this high pressure, storms pushed south and east, delivering massive amounts of wind damage.
Two derechos were particularly intense. July 12th to 13th brought “The Right Turn Derecho” for its sudden change of track from the east to the south as the complex of storms crossed Michigan and into Ohio. Damages mounted to nearly $53 million in today’s currency as millions of trees were uprooted and hundreds of thousands lost power along a 1,400 mile stretch from eastern Montana to Ohio. Seven people lost their lives due to the severe storms.
July 14th to 15th brought "The Ontario/Adirondacks Derecho.” Wind gusts ranged from 76 mph in Syracuse, N.Y., to at least 100 mph in Jefferson County, the county in which Watertown, N.Y. resides. The loss of 900,000 acres of forest, or over 680,000 football fields worth, cost over $350 million in 2021 dollars. Six people died in total; five in New York and one in Massachusetts.
The total cost of the four derechos likely reached over $1 billion in today’s currency. However, the Iowa and Midwest derecho in August of 2020 was much more destructive in comparison, causing a whopping $11.5 billion in damage.
Sources: spc.noaa.gov, ncdc.noaa.gov
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Story Image: Approximate track of "The Ontario/Adirondacks Derecho” of July 14th to 15th, 1995 (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA Storm Prediction Center).
A derecho is formally defined as a complex of storms that delivers severe wind gusts of at least 58 mph, with several 75 mph instances, across a stretch of more than 250 miles. From July 11th to 15th, 1995, four separate derechos punished the Northern Tier.
The catalyst for the intense series of storms was a massive dome of high pressure responsible for bubbling hot temperatures across the Midwest and Lower Great Lakes. On the outskirt of this high pressure, storms pushed south and east, delivering massive amounts of wind damage.
Two derechos were particularly intense. July 12th to 13th brought “The Right Turn Derecho” for its sudden change of track from the east to the south as the complex of storms crossed Michigan and into Ohio. Damages mounted to nearly $53 million in today’s currency as millions of trees were uprooted and hundreds of thousands lost power along a 1,400 mile stretch from eastern Montana to Ohio. Seven people lost their lives due to the severe storms.
July 14th to 15th brought "The Ontario/Adirondacks Derecho.” Wind gusts ranged from 76 mph in Syracuse, N.Y., to at least 100 mph in Jefferson County, the county in which Watertown, N.Y. resides. The loss of 900,000 acres of forest, or over 680,000 football fields worth, cost over $350 million in 2021 dollars. Six people died in total; five in New York and one in Massachusetts.
The total cost of the four derechos likely reached over $1 billion in today’s currency. However, the Iowa and Midwest derecho in August of 2020 was much more destructive in comparison, causing a whopping $11.5 billion in damage.
Sources: spc.noaa.gov, ncdc.noaa.gov
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Story Image: Approximate track of "The Ontario/Adirondacks Derecho” of July 14th to 15th, 1995 (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA Storm Prediction Center).