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The August 2020 Midwest derecho, a high-wind type of storm, was a weather event which took place on August 10, 2020 across the Midwestern United States. Moderate to severe damage occurred across the affected area, with the greatest damage occurring in Iowa and northern Illinois. Wind speeds exceeded 60 miles per hour (95 km/h) across much of the affected area, with maximum recorded wind gusts over 110 miles per hour (175 km/h). The impact subjected hundreds of thousands to utility disruptions.

Storm overview

At around 15:25 UTC on August 10, 2020, the Storm Prediction Center issued PDS Severe Thunderstorm Watch #426 for portions of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Lake Michigan. The storms were part of a derecho that was moving out of Iowa into northern Illinois, toward Chicago. Violent storms raked eastern Nebraska and western Iowa earlier in the day. At around 21:00 UTC, Doppler radar indicated that the most intense winds in the derecho had passed Chicago and were sweeping over southern Lake Michigan, extending south into western Indiana. Even in the storm’s wake, the National Weather Service warned of the potential for additional damaging gusts lasting another hour or two around Chicago, issuing a high wind warning until 7 p.m. central for lingering gusts to 55 to 65 mph. After blitzing Chicago, the storms were racing eastward, and a severe thunderstorm watch covered much of southwest Michigan and northern Indiana until around 5:00 UTC. On the eastern shores of Lake Michigan in southwest Michigan, the derecho was predicted to generate large waves and push high water ashore, prompting a lakeshore flood warning. Before the storm’s arrival, the National Weather Service office in Chicago warned area residents to treat warnings “like a tornado warning". The line of thunderstorms was producing upward of 70 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes per minute.

Impact and aftermath

The complex of storms has knocked out power and caused tree damage from around Omaha, Nebraska, to central Iowa. More than 1 million people were without power in the wake of the storms from eastern Nebraska to northern Illinois as the storms raced eastward into southern Michigan and Indiana. A personal weather station in Des Moines clocked a surface gust of 85 miles per hour (135 km/h), while several locations clocked gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). The storm’s intensity marginally waned as it headed east, but Chicago’s Midway Airport clocked a gust to 73 miles per hour (115 km/h). Chicago experienced its most severe winds around 20:00 UTC when, in addition to the 73 mph gust at Midway, O’Hare International Airport saw a 62-mile-per-hour (100 km/h) gust. The National Weather Service tweeted that “much of northern Illinois has pockets of damage with downed trees, debris, and power lines blocking roadways” after the worst had passed.

The severe thunderstorm warning for the Chicago and areas east to the Indiana State Line, issued at 18:54 UTC by the Weather Service, affected 7.8 million people. Several tornado warnings were issued in northern Illinois from near Rockford, Illinois, to Chicago’s north and west suburbs, including Evanston, as the Weather Service observed areas of enhanced winds on the leading edge of the line. One tornado probably did touch down near Lisbon, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago. Winds gusted to 62 mph in Aurora, Illinois, west of downtown Chicago, as the storms barreled through. Numerous reports of significant winds, and at times extreme winds, have been received from across the Corn Belt:

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, an eyewitness on social media described “utter destruction.” The Iowa Department of Transportation reported that Interstate 35 and other roads were blocked due to overturned vehicles and storm damage between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

References

1. "Storm Prediction Center PDS Severe Thunderstorm Watch 426". www.spc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
2. "Midwest Derecho Has Raced Eastward Bringing Widespread Damaging Winds". The Weather Channel. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
3. Cappucci, Matthew; CappucciMeteorologist, closeMatthew; GangEmailEmailBioBioFollowFollow, Capital Weather; Freedman, rew; close; weather, rew FreedmanEditor focusing on extreme; Change, Climate; science; SamenowEditor, the environment EmailEmailBioBioFollowFollowJason SamenowcloseJason. "Destructive derecho blasts Chicago with winds over 70 mph; more than 1 million lose power in Upper Midwest". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-08-10.

• Current events from August 2020
• Derechos in the United States
• 2020 in Iowa
• 2020 in Illinois
• 2020 in Indiana
• 2020 in Michigan
• 2020 meteorology
• 2020 natural disasters in the United States
• August 2020 events in the United States