Derecho!
I'm not sure how I went most of my life without hearing the term derecho until recent years. By definition, they are a line of intense winds that blow over a big area and cause lots of destruction. I couple years ago, it crossed my radar when some friends of ours suffered one and then last year, some hit closer to home though not were I live. Now I can say I experienced a derecho with several hours of heavy winds topping out at 82 mph!
This time, it had been in the forecast for a day or two so I tucked the garbage and compost bins on the less side of the house as the expected winds were forecasted from and they survived. Fortunately the trampoline was now gone and no longer an issue and so other than making sure all the doors were securely fastened, there wasn't much to do but sit and wait.
At about 7:35 in the evening, the line of winds came and immediately the trees bent more than I have ever seen them bend and the above one snapped about 12 feet off the ground and fell over taking huge limbs out of a couple other trees on the way down. The winds also took about an entire tree's worth of limbs out of the other trees as well but other than that, everything at our place survived.
My neighbor across the street however lost some fencing attached to their house which ruptured a gas line that spewed gas all night long unbeknownst to anyone. Only when our neighbor stepped out in the morning to check the damage did she smell and hear hissing gas and shut it off. I spent part of a day over there helping to detach the rest of the fence to electricians and gas pipe plumbers could get in to do their thing.
My last few days have been spent cutting up the trees down in my yard. It has been cold and all are on a steep slope which doesn't make it very fun to do this sort of thing so I haven't been putting in long hours. But I am making progress and got all but the main part of the trunk on derecho fallen tree cut up. I just need to stack up the wood and haul the rest of the branches down to the bottom of the hill to be burnt in the spring when things green up a bit.
It's a new term to me, perhaps because of our different geographical conditions. We do get high winds from time to time, but not like that.
ReplyDeletePersonally I suspect it is weather forecasters looking to get noticed by bring back old terms like derecho, bomb cyclone and others that have appeared in recent years.
DeleteI've never heard that word, but I'll bet yours was around the same time we had ridiculously strong winds here. I was seriously surprised that our trailer house wasn't damaged in some way. Those little tie-downs under our home must be fiercely strong!
ReplyDeleteIt probably was the same event during the week leading up to Christmas.
DeleteEd, I suspect the reason you have not heard the word derecho is why, for years, we did not know the words "Santa Anna Winds" or "Mistral" - they were words for regionally named wind phenomenon. We used to just call them "Big Winds" or "Straight Line Winds", depending on where you are from.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have heard from The Cowboy at The Ranch, between our wind storm and snow in December and another heavy snow recently, there are a number trees down as well (although thankfully none near the house). Looks like firewood for another several years.
I'm sure you are correct along with my theory of unnoticed weather forecasters mentioned upthread.
DeleteI've never heard of the term either, I'm just glad you didn't suffer more damage Ed. 82 mph winds sounds downright dangerous! I can just imagine what it would've done to your greenhouse if it had been in mid-assembly...
ReplyDeleteYes, I was worried about exactly that happening in mid construction. I have seen an entire building in mid construction taken completely apart by a storm during my years spent living up north in the frozen tundra of Minnesota.
DeleteYeah, "derecho" is a term I hadn't heard until relatively recently, either. We don't get them here in the UK, at least by that name, but I see them mentioned in American media. I don't envy you all that tree work! And I thought I had it hard just taking out some old blackberry vines!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't know how they form, I suspect the vast distances and flat terrain of western U.S. probably help form them which probably accounts why they aren't across the pond in the U.K. Perhaps eastern Russia or Mongolia?
DeleteStraight lines winds is a term we hear in Minnesota. I think derecho is new and maybe just in Iowa! Have fun cutting up trees!~
ReplyDeleteIt has been a barrel of laughs and a bucketful of muscle aches.
DeleteWhat a fun way to start the new year! It will surely help you to burn off the extra Christmas pounds Ed. Welcome back to reality and Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteWell this all happened before Christmas so hopefully it was compensation for all the food I ate over the holidays.
DeleteI think I first learned about this term on your blog maybe a couple of years ago? The weather has been CRAZY all over the country. I have been wearing shorts for about two weeks and we have had temperatures in the mid 70s. We have been down in our basement twice to take cover from storms. This morning we woke to snow on the ground!
ReplyDeleteGlobal warming at its finest!
DeleteDerecho is a word I've always been familiar with, but not really heard in everyday usage (or the exact meaning of) until y'all had one a few years ago. We tend to just call them straight line winds around here and they're usually in tandem with tornado activity. If you look at the Wiki page for "derecho" there is an interesting little graphic to show the location and frequency of derechos in the US.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho
Growing up, "straight line winds" was the term I remember being used. But derecho sounds better I guess for the weather forecasters. There were tornadoes associated with this derecho event though they were a lot further north of us.
DeleteGlad you escaped with minimal damage. (lots of work though!)There are certainly many weather terms that are new to me these days; perhaps they are the technical terms for what we used to call BIG WIND, INSUFFERABLE HEAT, etc. A few years ago (?) my son-in-law's relatives in Cedar Rapids had a lot of damage from a derecho. I don't think it was as bad for his parents in you-know-where. ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah that event in Cedar Rapids is still fairly fresh in everyone's minds around here and helps to reinforce how lucky we were.
DeleteThey are very destructive winds as they act like a wall.
ReplyDeleteLike a wall that pushed for several hours straight!
DeleteNot sure my other comment posted. I had never heard the term derecho until my son-in-law's relatives in Cedar Rapids got hit a few years ago. His parents didn't have much damage in you-know-where. I think we used to use simple terms (strong wind, deep cold, extreme heat) and not the technical terms for that weather condition. Glad you didn't have much damage!
ReplyDeleteThose were wild winds! Glad you weren't affected too badly and that you are strong and healthy enough to do the clean up and help your neighbor.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a lot of work and I'm still not done and probably won't be until spring. But at least I will get a month or two now to recuperate before starting in again.
DeleteYikes. Knocking down trees is bad enough, but rupturing a gas line is truly scary stuff!
ReplyDeleteI confess I'm not familiar with the term, but then we have big ground bumps around here they call mountains. They tend to do their own crazy thing with wind and weather.
The gas line was eye opening. I can't imagine what might have happened has there been a spark.
DeleteWow. And as bad as this was, it could have been so much worse. I'm not sure how far away your neighbor's house actually is, but if something had happened there, it would surely have affected your home as well. Scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy house would have been out of range of the explosion force but perhaps could have received flaming shrapnel.
DeleteI've never heard that term either. Then again, I've also never heard of bomb cyclone which hit my son's area yesterday (or was it today?).
ReplyDelete