Lives in danger as many seek refuge from extreme heat

CNN ^ | July 1, 2012 | By the CNN Wire Staff

[Oldeconomybuyer]

(CNN) -- People in a huge swath of the United States are being urged to seek out shelters as needed on Sunday as a historic heat wave continues to bring sizzing temperatures -- including to some who have lost power.

Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States.

Nineteen states were under excessive heat warnings or heat advisories on Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit were expected in much of the Southeast.

Over the past week, nearly 1600 high temperatures have been broken -- including 140 all-time highs, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Statistics for Saturday, when more records were broken, were not yet available.

Meanwhile, a derecho -- or massive storm -- that moved across the Ohio Valley to the Northeast on Friday left 12 people dead and millions without power. Many remained without power on Sunday.

Some residents in the affected areas, particularly between Chicago and Washington, were likely to see high temperatures in the 90s or even 100 on Sunday, said CNN Meterologist Sarah Dillingham. "Even with areas seeing temperatures in the 80s to low 90s, no air conditioning will still pose a major threat."

[CatherineofAragon]

"Has ANYBODY ever heard that term before (besides it being Spanish for "right")?"

Nope. Here in Virginia, we had a very similar storm in the mid-90s, and they just called it a straight-line wind. I swear I think they make up terms as they go along.

[libertarian27]

Another good-hot day to clean out the basement.

And a sign to clean out the White House basement

[ProtectOurFreedom]

My first thought was the MSM was ramming Spanish down our throats, too.

BUT, it turns out this usage goes back a long ways, all the way to 1877! From Wikipedia:

A derecho (Spanish: derecho "straight"), is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms in the form of a squall line usually taking the form of a bow echo. Derechos blow in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to a gust front, except that the wind is sustained and generally increases in strength behind the "gust" front. A warm weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially June and July in the Northern Hemisphere. They can occur at any time of the year and occur as frequently at night as in the daylight hours.

Derecho comes from the Spanish word for "straight". The word was first used in the American Meteorological Journal in 1888 by Gustavus Detlef Hinrichs in a paper describing the phenomenon and based on a significant derecho event that crossed Iowa on 31 July 1877.

He chose "derecho" because "tornado" also is a Spanish word. Apparently the term "derecho" died out for 110 years until the publication of a paper in 1987 that resurrected it and it has become more commonly used to describe long lived convective straight-line wind events.

Origin and Evolution of the Term "Derecho" as a Severe Weather Event

[afraidfortherepublic]

Obviously this change in our language is Iowas’s fault because of all the cars they were driving there in 1877! ;^)

[afraidfortherepublic]

Well, I guess a derecho took the steeple off of my stable in 1990; and I didn’t even know it.

[null and void]

Has ANYBODY ever heard that term before (besides it being Spanish for "right")?

This is the first time for me.

[spankalib]

I think derecha is right, and derecho is straight.

[mplsconservative]

Thanks for providing that info! Thanks to you I learned something new today. I love that! :)

[MissMagnolia]

Not until last Monday. Evidently, the term didn’t come into use until 2010, after a ‘derecho’ in 2009 & the weather service needed to call it something. Or so I’ve heard.

[mplsconservative]

See ProtectOurFreedom’s #19. Here in MN, I guess the NWS has been calling these storms derechos since at least 2005. Here’s the weather page for my area today - http://www.crh.noaa.gov/wxstory.php?site=mpx

[Tax-chick]

Thanks! I used to be fluent, but now my verb tenses are upwhacked and my prepositions seem to be hysterically funny.

[Cinnamontea]

a derecho -- or massive storm

"Has ANYBODY ever heard that term before (besides it being Spanish for "right")?"

I've never heard this in reference to a storm. Obviously whoever wrote this wants to introduce a Spanish-language term to U.S. weather reports.

[gunsequalfreedom]

Some residents in the affected areas, particularly between Chicago and Washington, were likely to see high temperatures in the 90s or even 100 on Sunday...

Not even considered a warm day in these parts. If the temps hits 90 in the summer it is time for light jacket. Guess it is all in what you are used to.

[the invisib1e hand]

FUBO FUBO FUBO.

[2111USMC]

Growing up in the 60s I remember very few people having air conditioning.

I guess thousands died and they just didn’t tell us about it.

[dragnet2]

a derecho -- or massive storm

Has ANYBODY ever heard that term before (besides it being Spanish for "right")?<

They probably meant to say, El Drencho.

It's Spanish for mucho agua.

[the invisib1e hand]

Meanwhile, your honorable citizen CONED union guys are murmuring about a strike as, coincidentally, their contract expires in the dead of summer.

I wish they would, and then get fired.

[Lurker]

A derecho is a very, very strong straight line wind. While tornadoes rotate and are relatively isolated events, a derecho can stretch a hundred miles along a storm front carrying hurricane force winds.

L

[Inyo-Mono]

Growing up in the 60s I remember very few people having air conditioning.

I guess thousands died and they just didn’t tell us about it.

Ditto. We didn't have air conditioning at home, in school, at work, or in the car, but I never heard of thousands of people dropping dead from heat back then. Like you, all I can figure is that "they" just didn't bother telling us about it back then.

[TruBluKentuckian]

As many have pointed out above the term “derecho” is not new. Derechos are more common in the northern plains/midwest and I believe Minnesota is the hot spot for them.

Derechos tend to create their own atmospheres and feed themselves. Being a weather nut (with 2 years of meteorology training in the 70’s) I’m very familiar with them. Just think of the small “bow echoes” you see from time to time on local radars and scale it up to a multi-state size, have it travel for hundreds of miles at a high speed and you’ve got an idea what they are.