Your baseborn Earther weather pressman went the roof of Gizmodo Media ’s spot to capture the above picture . By the clip he descended to the ground floor , all hell had break idle .
Powerful winds made umbrellas abstract sculpture of charge plate , metal , and framework . And that ’s too bad for their owners , as torrential rain sour city streets into rivers as lightning forked across the sky and the National Weather Service New York officeurged residentsto “ SEEK SHELTER NOW inside a stalwart structure and stay aside from windows . ” Which is why I am hole up in our offices ( far from windows of class ! ) pen this blog instead of heading home .
So , what the snake pit happened on a day that started cheery and abide that way until 15 proceedings before the gates of hell appeared over Midtown ? If you ’re a Twitter user , you ’ve probably seen the term derecho cast off around today , as well as on Monday when the Washington , D.C. neighborhood was buffeted by herculean storms and the Chief Executive drove through an area under a freaking crack word of advice ( pro tip : do not do this even if you ’re leader of the loose universe ) .
Photo: Brian Kahn
A derecho is basically a powerful windstorm that moves in a straight line unlike twister , which spin in a tight area , or hurricanes , whichspin over a much larger domain . make things even more confusing : some derechos can come with tornadoes .
So , was this a derecho ? Well , it ’s complicated .
The shape of wild atmospheric condition begin this morning . Those same sunny skies helped inflame the land up , while winds from the southward drew even more hot , humid zephyr into the region . Temperatures peak in the upper fourscore in New York and 90 further south . A cap of stable air in the atmosphere allowed all that heat to ramp up up , a frame-up that Capital Weather Gangwrote this morningwould serve “ rapidly destabilise the standard pressure this afternoon . ”
Lightning function is kinda fighting todayhttps://t.co/w3z1mPu5yVpic.twitter.com/jv8Gjw4X3Z
— Stephen Stirling ( @SStirling)May 15 , 2018
We saw that start in central Pennsylvania , where the powerful series of thunderstorms built into the afternoon before log toward the I-95 corridor . Along the way , they dropped hail the size of baseballs and allow for a wake of lightning that looks like an candid wounding across Pennsylvania .
The violent storm then plowed into New York right at rush time of day . I did n’t have an anemometer on the ceiling of Gizmodo Media HQ , but Ifeel good sayingit was breezy as shtup . TV demo blast whirlpool water out of a rooftop puddle . And breaking wind gusts have alreadyhit 40 mphin Massachusetts , which is next in line to get hammered . forecast indicate winds could top out at 70 mph in some locations .
Whoa ! That is pee being blown out of a puddle decent now on top of a eminent rise in Midtown!#nbc4nypic.twitter.com / BDMXDwP999
— Lauren Scala ( @LaurenScala)May 15 , 2018
So yes , storm bad . But derecho big ? According to theStorm Prediction Center , “ by the present definition , derecho malarkey must fulfill the National Weather Service criterion for dangerous wind gust ( bully than 57 mph ) at most points along the violent storm way of life . ” They also have to far-flung .
So far , at least , this storm has n’t met the official derecho criterion . But you should still exercise extreme caution , avoid repel on swamp roadway , and stay off from rooftop and other area that could expose you to lightning .
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