Was it a derecho?

Jason Bauserman
Contributing Writer

At 4:55 p.m. Monday, a surprising squall line hit the northern tip of Pocahontas County.  In a 10-minute period, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, darkness and a 15 degree temperature drop all occurred and then it was over – at least for us.  Even though it was not as bad, it reminded me of the derecho on June 29, 2012.

I called in a storm report to the National Weather Service in Charleston, and told the meteorologist that we had a peak wind gust of 52 mph. She said that was not fast enough for a derecho. 

Tuesday morning, the folks on the Weather Channel were discussing a derecho slamming the Shenandoah Valley, Washington, D.C. and Norfolk areas.  Evidently, once the storm exited the mountains the heat and humidity added fuel to become an “official” derecho.

My son, Jonah, called to say a large white pine was uprooted in his front yard.  It measured 50 feet in length, 30 inches at the stump, with a 25-foot root system. 

It was a derecho to us.