- Southern Great Lakes Derecho of 1991
The Southern Great Lakes Derecho of 1991 is the
derecho event that occurred onJuly 7 and 8,1991 . It lasted 17 hours and raced fromSouth Dakota through southernMichigan before dying out over westernPennsylvania .outh Dakota
This derecho started in southeastern
South Dakota at around 8 A.M. CDT.Iowa
The derecho moved into northern
Iowa causing more damage. Thousands of acres of corn andsoybean crops were flattened causing $60 million in damage (1991 dollars).The strongest wind gust -- 103 mph (170 km/h) -- was recorded atSioux Center, Iowa . A school's roof was blown off in Orange City.A gust of 71 mph was recorded at Mason City airport. There was also major damage inside the city. A woman was killed in McIntosh Woods State Park when a tree fell on her.
Wisconsin
As this derecho moved into
Wisconsin in the early afternoon hours, it died out and a new derecho quickly developed. The derecho quickly gained in size and was once again causing damage. Thirty farm buildings were destroyed and over 250 were damaged over southern Wisconsin. InWaukesha, Wisconsin , a 300-year oldDunbar Oak tree was toppled. Dane, Jefferson, Waukesha, Washington, and Ozaukee counties were declared Federal Disaster Areas by FEMA.outhern Michigan
The derecho entered southern
Michigan at around 6:30 P.M. EDT. It would move at up to 60 mph, and knock out power to nearly 853,000 customers. Up to this time this would be the largest number of customers in Michigan to lose power from the same storm system. For some customers it would take up to a week for the power to be restored.An 84 mph (133 km/h) wind gust was reported at
Grand Rapids, Michigan and atBelding, Michigan . A semi-trailer was blown over onI-69 near Marshall.outhwestern Ontario
After crossing lower Michigan, the derecho moved into
Ontario . Many electrical lines were blown down and a number of roofs were damaged. A tornado touched down near Stratford and numerous funnel clouds were reported.Demise
The bow echo system then crossed over
Lake Erie and dissipated over westernPennsylvania at around 2 A.M. EDT onJuly 8 .The Southern Great Lakes Derecho of 1991 traveled about 1000 miles (1600km) in 17 hours, caused $100 million in damage (1991 dollars), cut off electrical power to nearly 1 million customers, killed 1 and injured about 12 others.
ee also
*
List of derecho events References
External links
* [http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/jul7-81991page.htm The Southern Great Lakes Derecho of 1991] (
Storm Prediction Center )
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