“Low-end” Derecho Hits Eastern United States
acquired June 13, 2013
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When meteorologists say derecho,
which means “direct” or “straight ahead” in Spanish, they are referring
to a widespread, long-lived wind storm associated with bands of
fast-moving thunderstorms. This type of storm was given the name in the
late nineteenth century, and they occur most often in the Midwestern and
Great Lakes regions of the United States between May and July. To
qualify as a derecho, a storm must cause damage over a 240-mile
(400-kilometer) front/line and produce wind gusts of at least 58 miles
(93 kilometers) per hour.
When a derecho
barreled over the eastern United States in June 2012, the impacts were
severe. That powerful storm brought hurricane-force winds to numerous
states, killed 22 people, and knocked out electric power
for millions. So people were bracing for the worst when a fierce line
of storms was bearing down on the same area on June 13, 2013.
While the 2013 storm was not as powerful or destructive as the
previous year’s event, the National Weather Service said it still
qualified as a “low-end derecho.” Over a 15-hour period, the storm system generated 376 reports
of damaging thunderstorm wind. In one part of Indiana, a storm cell
brought winds of 90 to 100 miles (140 to 160 kilometers) per hour across
an area seven miles long and three miles wide, according to meteorologist Jeff Masters.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra
satellite acquired this image of the storm system passing over the
eastern United States on June 13 , 2013. While it is not possible to
make out the band where thunderstorms were strongest because of cloud
cover, a composite of radar images reveals a bow-shaped band of storms—called a bow echo—propagating east at 47 miles (75 kilometers) per hour.
Further Reading
- NOAA Bow Echoes. Accessed June 14, 2013.
- NOAA About Derechos. Accessed June 14, 2013.
- Instrument:
- Terra - MODIS
Black Forest Blaze is Colorado’s Most Destructive
acquired June 12, 2013
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acquired June 12, 2013
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acquired June 12, 2013
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acquired June 12, 2013
download GeoTIFF file (30 MB, TIFF)
acquired June 12, 2013
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When the National Interagency Fire
Center released its 2013 wildfire outlook in early June, it did not
forecast unusually high fire risk for Colorado. Most of the Rockies
received some relief from drought during the spring, so there was hope
that this year’s fire season would be more manageable than the last.
But then the heat arrived. Temperatures soared above 100°F (38 °C) in
Denver on June 11, the earliest it has ever reached triple digits. That
heat, along with gusty winds and drought-parched forests, came together to produce the Black Forest fire,
the most destructive the state has ever seen. By the afternoon of June
13, the fire had destroyed 360 homes and damaged 14 others. The Waldo Canyon fire, Colorado’s most destructive prior to the Black Forest fire, destroyed 346 homes.
The Black Forest fire began on June 11 in a densely-wooded area north of Colorado Springs, Colorado. On June 12, 2013, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua
satellites captured these images of the fire about 20 miles (30
kilometers) northeast of Colorado Springs. The Terra image (top) was
collected at 12:05 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, and the Aqua image
(lower) was collected at 1:40 p.m. MDT. Red outlines indicate hot spots
where MODIS detected the unusually warm surface temperatures associated
with fires.
According to firefighting agencies in Colorado, the Black Forest fire
had spread through 15,000 acres (6,000 hectares) by the afternoon of
June 13. Hundreds of people on the ground and numerous water-dropping
helicopters and planes were fighting the blaze, but it remained zero
percent contained on the afternoon of June 13. More than 38,000 people
had been forced to evacuate their homes. Tens of thousands more people
coped with elevated air pollution levels because of the fires.
References
- NASA (2013, June 13) Western US Fires Flare Up. Accessed June 13, 2013.
- National Interagency Fire Center (2013, June 1) National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook (pdf). Accessed May 3, 2013.
- Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center (2013, June 12) Black Forest Fire Accessed June 3, 2013.
- U.S. Drought Monitor (2013, June 11) Colorado. Accessed June 13, 2013.
- Weather Underground (2013, June 12) Record head fuels destructive fires in drought-baked Colorado. Accessed June 13, 2013.
Further Reading
- Denver Post (2013, June 13) Colorado Wildfires: Live Updates. Accessed June 13, 2013.
- The Gazette (2013, June 13) Black Forest Fire: Live Updates. Accessed June 13, 2013.
- Yahoo (2013, June 13) Slideshow: Colorado Wildfires. Accessed June 13, 2013.
- Instrument:
- Terra - MODIS
NASA: USA - “Low-end” Derecho Hits Eastern United States - Black Forest Blaze is Colorado’s Most Destructive - 07.07.13
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