2 Derechos to end June?

Shelf Cloud, Monmouth IL 6/30/14 -- Jeff Last

The word derecho has been thrown around a lot ever since late June 2012 when the national media grabbed hold of the term. While many forecasts have included the term over the past 2 years, very few storms have actually verified as a true derecho. But on Monday, June 30th it could be argued that two derechos struck the Midwest. 

First, let's review the true criteria for a derecho.

While many MCS (Mesoscale Convective Systems) have come and gone with widespread wind damage, many times it is the high end wind damage (75 mph or greater) reports that are lacking to define a storm as a derecho. That was not the case with either of these thunderstorm complexes. 

The first had 7 confirmed reports of 75 mph winds or greater between 1 PM and 4 PM. (Reports are via SPC filter storm reports)

1810	81		HARDIN	IA
1949	80		LINN	IA
2007	80		CLAYTON	IA
2017	80		LINN	IA
2045	90		DUBUQUE	IA
2048	80		SCOTT	IA
2100	78		GRANT	WI

The second line of thunderstorms that develop also produced widespread wind damage between central Illinois and near Detroit, MI. Over the 240 mile base line criteria. 

253	75		KENDALL	IL
303	82		WILL	IL
320	85		COOK	IL
327	75		COOK	IL
330	75		COOK	IL
331	75		WILL	IL
335	85		BEAVER	OK
342	86		LAKE	IN
500	75		CASS	MI
522	75		KALAMAZOO	MI

While these two complex of thunderstorms went over the parts of the same geographic areas, they were two distinct line of storms. The first squall line affected more square miles, but the second resulted in more significant wind reports. So the question is asked, do we classify one of these as a derecho or both? 

It should also be noted and not debated the job of those who work at local NWS offices and the SPC for their job with predicting this severe weather outbreak. Below is a verification of the SPC 1630z severe weather outlook.