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On This Day in 1998: Corn Belt Derecho
June 27, 2021 at 07:58 PM EDT
By WeatherBug's Intern Meteorologist, Christopher Smith
On this day 23 years ago, a derecho tore through the Midwest causing a long stretch of destruction and disruptions for millions.
A derecho is defined as an organized thunderstorm complex that produces widespread damaging wind gusts of 58 mph or greater over a stretch of more than 240 miles. The Midwest's derecho on June 29, 1998, can be traced back to a warm front near the South Dakota/Nebraska border that fired severe storms across northeast Nebraska.
The storms started out producing large hail to the size of hen eggs and damaging wind of at least 58 mph. Unfortunately, the severe storms in Nebraska were just a precursor for what was to come. Expanding in coverage and organizing into a line, the storms raced southeastward and gained intensity.
Around midday, central Iowa and the Des Moines area were hit particularly hard. An embedded storm called a mesocyclone within the larger line had a distinct cyclonic characteristic and delivered extremely strong winds. Damage around Des Moines, Iowa, was equivalent to that of a F2 tornado on the Fujita scale, with wind speeds estimated to be between 110 to 155 mph.
After punishing Iowa, the line of storms tore through Illinois and Indiana, delivering isolated wind gusts up to 110 mph. It wasn’t until late evening on June 29 when the derecho fizzled as storms lost their punch moving south into Kentucky.
Massive amounts of destruction resulted from the derecho including the loss of up to 75 percent of the corn crop in southeast Iowa into Illinois. The massive loss of corn along the Corn Belt helped designate the derecho as “The Corn Belt Derecho of June 1998”.
Through its 10-hour lifespan, damages mounted to more than $125 million and power outages affected nearly 500,000 people. In Iowa alone, at least 1,400 homes were damaged from storms.
The Corn Belt and Midwest are no strangers to derechos. In August 2020, a derecho produced wind gusts in excess of 120 mph in Iowa and the derecho in total cost a whopping $11.2 billion in today’s currency.
Sources: spc.noaa.gov, weather.gov, ncdc.noaa.gov
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Story Image: A map of the storm reports from the June 29, 1998 derecho (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA).
A derecho is defined as an organized thunderstorm complex that produces widespread damaging wind gusts of 58 mph or greater over a stretch of more than 240 miles. The Midwest's derecho on June 29, 1998, can be traced back to a warm front near the South Dakota/Nebraska border that fired severe storms across northeast Nebraska.
The storms started out producing large hail to the size of hen eggs and damaging wind of at least 58 mph. Unfortunately, the severe storms in Nebraska were just a precursor for what was to come. Expanding in coverage and organizing into a line, the storms raced southeastward and gained intensity.
Around midday, central Iowa and the Des Moines area were hit particularly hard. An embedded storm called a mesocyclone within the larger line had a distinct cyclonic characteristic and delivered extremely strong winds. Damage around Des Moines, Iowa, was equivalent to that of a F2 tornado on the Fujita scale, with wind speeds estimated to be between 110 to 155 mph.
After punishing Iowa, the line of storms tore through Illinois and Indiana, delivering isolated wind gusts up to 110 mph. It wasn’t until late evening on June 29 when the derecho fizzled as storms lost their punch moving south into Kentucky.
Massive amounts of destruction resulted from the derecho including the loss of up to 75 percent of the corn crop in southeast Iowa into Illinois. The massive loss of corn along the Corn Belt helped designate the derecho as “The Corn Belt Derecho of June 1998”.
Through its 10-hour lifespan, damages mounted to more than $125 million and power outages affected nearly 500,000 people. In Iowa alone, at least 1,400 homes were damaged from storms.
The Corn Belt and Midwest are no strangers to derechos. In August 2020, a derecho produced wind gusts in excess of 120 mph in Iowa and the derecho in total cost a whopping $11.2 billion in today’s currency.
Sources: spc.noaa.gov, weather.gov, ncdc.noaa.gov
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Story Image: A map of the storm reports from the June 29, 1998 derecho (Wikimedia Commons/NOAA).