Friday Feature: Derecho Brings Disaster to Iowa Farms

by | Aug 14, 2020 | Ag in the News, Corn, Feature Video, Field Crops, General Agriculture, Weather

This week’s featured video is a sad story produced by the Weather Channel as a follow up to Monday’s derecho that wreaked havoc through the Midwest. This story is something Panhandle farmers can certainly relate to following hurricanes, but this storm rolled through with 100+ mph winds and wreaked havoc in 20 minutes with very little time to prepare. Crops, grain bins. barns and homes were severely damaged or destroyed on August 10, 2020.

A derecho is a huge straight-line, severe thunderstorm, not a tornado.  The national weather service uses the following definition for use of this term:

A derecho (pronounced similar to “deh-REY-cho”) is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. Although a derecho can produce destruction similar to the strength of tornadoes, the damage typically is directed in one direction along a relatively straight swath. As a result, the term “straight-line wind damage” sometimes is used to describe derecho damage. By definition, if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles (about 400 kilometers) and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph (93 km/h) or greater along most of its length, then the event may be classified as a derecho. National Weather Service

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If you enjoyed this video, you might want to check out the featured videos from previous weeks:  Friday Features

If you come across an interesting or humorous video, or a new innovation related to agriculture, please send in a link, so we can share it with our readers. Send video links to:  Doug Mayo

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