The multi-day severe weather threat across the Plains escalated on Thursday, with thunderstorms delivering powerful winds and massive hailstones across the region a day after a meteorologist was killed in a crash during a preceding storm.
The extreme weather event has been declared a Derecho, a long-lived thunderstorm complex that is sometimes called an “inland hurricane” due to the extensive wind damage that often occurs. According to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), there were 55 significant, hurricane-force wind gusts. “[Thursday was] the day with the 2nd most preliminary hurricane force wind gusts since at least 2004,” SPC said.