Unsettled Wednesday, then cooler before heating up next week

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It’s been a wild weather week. Several extreme weather events have occurred from California to the Midwest. Here’s a quick tour with some links and resources.

The massive derecho that swept across Iowa one week ago caused massive home and crop damage.

The damage swaths from the Aug. 10 Iowa derecho are massive. Winds topped 100 mph at several locations.

I’ve talked with several people who have relatives in Iowa who have endured severe damage and long-lasting power outages in 90-degree heat in the past week. Over half a million customers lost power in last Monday’s derecho. Many thousands are still without power a week later.

And the extreme downburst wind swaths caused a massive crop blowdown. The latest estimates are that as many as 14-million acres of Iowa cropland was impacted by the derecho. 

NASA’s MODIS Terra 250-meter resolution image from Aug. 14 clearly shows the massive crop damage swaths across Iowa are visible from space.

California ‘firenado’ tornado warning

The Reno National Weather Service office Saturday issued what is believed to be the first-ever tornado warning issued for a pyrocumulus cloud-driven fire tornado.

Fire whirls or “firenadoes” occur as intense updrafts of heat from wildfires spin into tight circulations.

The weather station at Furnace Creek in Death Valley hit 130 degrees Sunday. 

The World Meteorological Organization will verify Sunday’s reading at Death Valley.

The 2020 extreme weather hits just keep on coming.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

A rash of extreme weather events has occurred in the past week.

NASA MODIS 250-meter visible satellite image of Iowa on August 14, 2020.

Extreme weather: Iowa crop blowdown, 130 degrees, 'firenado' warnings

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