What is a derecho?

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Derecho unleashes over 100-mph wind gusts across the northern Plains

A powerful storm system called a derecho moving through the northern Plains Thursday produced the second-highest number of hurricane-force wind gusts on record since 2004. 

A derecho is a cluster of thunderstorms that produces destructive wind gusts for hundreds of miles and has the potential to impact millions of people.

For meteorologists to classify a windstorm as a derecho – from the Spanish word for "straight" – the swath of straight-line wind damage it causes must cover a distance of at least 400 miles and include wind gusts over 58 mph along most of its path, as well as several, well-separated 75-mph or higher gusts, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

The definition of a derecho.

(FOX Weather)

Derechos can occur at any time of the year but are more common when a clash of air masses happens during the spring and summer.

The damaging-wind events vary in size, but it is not uncommon for winds to exceed more than 100 mph and produce tornado-like destruction for several hundred miles.

THIS IS AMERICA'S MOST ACTIVE TIME FOR DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS, INCLUDING DERECHOS

A derecho is a cluster of thunderstorms with destructive winds.

(FOX Weather)

One of the most significant derecho events in U.S. history occurred throughout much of the Midwest during the summer of 2020.

During the event, winds gusted upward of 140 mph, causing more than $7.5 billion in damage.

If you are in the path of a high-wind event such as a derecho, it is advised that you get indoors and move away from windows and doors.

In this aerial image from a drone, damaged grain bins are shown at the Heartland Co-Op grain elevator on Aug. 11, 2020, in Luther, Iowa. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said early estimates indicated 10 million acres, nearly one-third of the states land used for crops, were damaged when a powerful storm battered the region a day earlier.

(Daniel Acker / Getty Images)