derecho

[ duh-rey-choh ]

noun

, plural de·re·chos.

1. a widespread and severe windstorm that moves rapidly along a fairly straight path and is associated with bands of rapidly moving thunderstorms.

Word History and Origins

Origin of derecho¹

1885–90; < Spanish: straight < Old Spanish < Latin dīrēctus, dērēctus direct ( def )

Example Sentences

During the subsequent Trump administration, disaster declarations and relief bills became politicized, hinging on whether those hit by, say, the Iowa derecho, California wildfires and, especially, hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, were somehow worthy of the most basic obligations of government.

From Salon

The flooding and damage in Houston came just weeks after the area was walloped by a weather event known as a derecho — a widespread, long-lived windstorm that’s associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.

From Seattle Times

It was the largest outage statewide since 2012 when about 670,000 customers lost power from a derecho, a widespread, straight-line wind storm associated with fast-moving severe thunderstorms.

From Seattle Times

By combining assimilated infrared and microwave data in the study of the derecho, the researchers were able to predict surface gust locations and maximum wind values more accurately.

From Science Daily

The researchers reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters that adding microwave data collected by low-Earth-orbiting satellites to existing computer weather forecast models produced more accurate forecasts of surface gusts in a case study of the 2020 Midwest Derecho.

From Science Daily