- The derecho caused more than 60 reports of hurricane-force gusts.
- There were at least two reports of wind gusts over 100 mph.
- Storms developed as temperatures soared and the jet stream raced overhead.
Thursday's derecho caused widespread destruction from the Central Plains to the upper Midwest, and it also flirted with some severe weather records.
The derecho produced widespread wind damage from eastern Nebraska into northern Minnesota in a swath that stretched for 500 miles. It also produced some tornadoes.
A derecho is a long-lived complex of thunderstorms that can produce wind damage hundreds of miles long and tens of miles wide with winds sometimes up to 100 mph or higher.
Among the destruction, at least three people were killed, an airport was heavily damaged and more than a dozen vehicles were toppled over on multiple interstates. For a look at the destruction left behind by this derecho, please read our impacts article here.
Furthermore, the derecho produced over 60 hurricane-force wind gust reports from Nebraska to Minnesota.
As of Friday afternoon, the number was 64 reports, tied with the previous biggest thunderstorm high-end wind event since 2004. This number may fluctuate some in the days to come.
The event with the highest number of hurricane-force wind gusts was set just last December in another derecho over much of the same area.
Hundreds of other reports of high winds and wind damage were also collected by the Storm Prediction Center.
But this wasn't your typical spring derecho.
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center issued a "particularly dangerous situation" severe thunderstorm watch Thursday afternoon stating that one of the hazards in the evolving line of thunderstorms was "scattered significant gusts to 105 mph."
This watch was among one of the strongest watches issued by the SPC. At least five others listed winds up to 90 knots (or 105 mph) with the most recent being in July 2019 – another derecho that swept through the Great Lakes.
This forecast was verified just an hour later in Tripp, South Dakota, located about 60 miles southwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Winds there measured 107 mph at a Road Weather Information System (RWIS) weather station. A second weather station also record a wind gust of 102 mph in Deuel County, South Dakota, as storms moved northeastward just outside of the watch box.
So how did we get this higher-end derecho?
At least some of the blame has to be put off the Southeast coast. For over a week before this derecho evolved, a cutoff low-pressure system meandered from Virginia to the offshore waters of the Carolinas. This system, with little direction from the jet stream, helped to back up the rest of the weather across the Lower 48.
The pattern that evolved was an "omega block," named for the Greek letter Ω. Omega blocks are defined by a strong ridge of high pressure typically flanked by dips of the jet stream to the east and west. In this case, the cutoff low made up the eastern flank.
The atmospheric constipation that resulted from this pattern yielded record heat from Texas to the Midwest. Highs in the 90s were experienced as far north as Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin, earlier in the week.
Before the storms erupted on Thursday, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, broke a daily record high temperature that had stood for more than 110 years. The high of 94 degrees on May 12 was 25 degrees above average. This heat and the humidity that accompanied it helped fuel thunderstorms.
Storm systems must travel around all of this heat rather than through it as high pressure often deflects these systems to the north.
In this case, the jet stream, which had been shunted well to the north by the heat and blocked-up pattern, brought a potent batch of energy from the Rockies northward into the northern Plains. This energy developed into a strong low-pressure system in the Plains and sat over the Dakotas much of the evening of the derecho, sparking thunderstorms, gusty winds and a dust storm as far south as Kansas.
The jet stream aloft was oriented parallel to the temperature gradient where storms erupted over the Plains, which helped push this derecho northeastward at speeds near 90 mph at times.
This wasn't even the first line of thunderstorms that erupted in the Plains and Midwest in this pattern. Just the night before, Minneapolis experienced another strong line of thunderstorms with damaging winds up to 80 mph and hail that evolved from a small area of spin in the Plains.
Derechos often form in the warmer months around areas of high pressure and the heat that frequently sets up around them.
Damage is seen near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on Thursday, May 12, 2022. (Michelle Leigh)
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