ROANOKE, Va. – One storm system produced everything from snow squalls to tornadoes, wind damage to a dust storm and wildfires across the Plains and Upper Midwest Wednesday.
Storm reports continue to be tallied by the Storm Prediction Center, but the results are already staggering.
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Yesterday was wild. Everything from wind damage to snow, tornadoes to fires and a dust storm. This storm won't come close to doing any of that in our area today. pic.twitter.com/EqarJLUt0G
— Chris Michaels (@WSLS_Michaels) December 16, 2021
The Storm Prediction Center confirmed that Wednesday’s wind storm produced the most hurricane-force wind gusts on record since at least 2004. As of 10:40 a.m. Thursday, there were 55 wind gusts that exceeded 74 miles per hour.
Compare that to the derecho of 2012, when there were 37 such gusts. (That’s not to minimize the impact that derecho had on our area. It’s just to show the scope of this storm.)
This storm will likely be called a derecho, because of its size/swath of damage. A derecho is a wind storm that produces damage along a path of at least 400 miles.
This storm is not expected to have a direct impact on our weather. Make sure to read Justin McKee’s forecast article from Thursday morning.