Thursday’s storms officially declared a derecho
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) officially confirmed a derecho that impacted many states in the Midwest yesterday, including Indiana.
- NWS Indianapolis’s summary on Thursday’s derecho
- Hot, humid with several storm chances into the weekend
- Severe storms leave 100,000+ Hoosiers without power
A derecho is a widespread, long-lived windstorm that produces wind gusts of at least 58 mph with a damage swath of at least 240 miles.
Storm reports were widespread across Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and northern Missouri for June 29. Hundreds of high wind and wind damage reports were sent in. Multiple areas in Illinois had straight-line wind damage consistent with 100 mph wind gusts.
As a whole, this derecho contained a damage swath of over 650 miles.
Here in central Indiana, the Indianapolis International Airport recorded a wind gust of 70 mph at close to 3:50 PM EDT. Vigo County was especially rocked hard by this system with winds of 70-80 MPH and widespread tree damage. One person was injured in Rush County when a tree fell onto a vehicle with occupants in it.
On average, Indiana typically sees one derecho every two years.