I've always had a fascination with violent weather. Years ago, I actually looked into spending several weeks with a team of storm chasers - you know, those nutjobs who actually drive toward tornadoes. You might think that a certain movie might've inspired me, but that had the opposite effect: driving around Texas and Oklahoma, in cramped quarters with a bunch of infrequently-showering weather hippies? Even if they all looked like Helen Hunt, the appeal would have been fleeting at best.
No, my inspiration was slightly earlier and much geekier: a Bruce Sterling novel, Heavy Weather, which postulated the creation of an F-6 storm. Yep, that's off the Fujita Scale: a self-perpetuating, donut-shaped storm over much of Tornado Alley, which would have left much of the Midwest looking like Damnation Alley, but without the coolness of George Peppard.
Anyway... So you'd think I would've known about derechoes, a particular type of storm front that can occur in tornado conditions. Apparently one was spotted in the storms that have been sweeping across the southern central US. (That video is pretty annoying, but at least you can hear how the word is pronounced, so you won't sound like such a guero.) Derechoes can push winds along the ground at tremendous speeds which can topple trees with ease. They are also hell on trailer parks. One wonders if this is because trailers are often not adequately secured against high winds, or because the people who are willing to live in areas of violent storms are also crazy enough to live in trailers. (For the record, I lived in a trailer for several years, so I can say things like this.)
Be warned: derecho, if you didn't know, is Spanish for 'straight,' which can make a Google search on the term a little frightening.
