A strong derecho was moving through Ohio and into West Virginia Tuesday afternoon, but it fell apart Tuesday night before it reached the Hampton Roads area, which begs the question, what is a derecho?
A derecho is a strong and widespread line of storms that sweeps quickly across a large portion of the country. Many derechos spin off from strong areas of low pressure and bring very strong winds, such as the one on Tuesday afternoon.
Luckily for us, the mountains shielded the region from the derecho, and the line of storms fell apart by the time they crossed into Virginia.
This doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t have any chances for storms in the future. Stay tuned to News Channel 3 and download the VIPIR app to stay in the know about upcoming storm threats.
–Andrew Green
