Deadly Derecho Hits Nearly Half of Canada’s Population

[StanleyCupOneDay]

I can’t believe no one else has posted about this yet, because the destruction it wrought was severe. 1000km of damage in Ontario and Quebec. Cars were tossed, power poles were snapped, records were broken, houses were leveled. At least 9 people sadly lost their lives. A derecho for people unaware of the term is a severe band of thunderstorms that produces extremely strong downburst winds created by a cold front sweeping in, slicing through the heat and humidity that was already in place. The videos and pictures are unbelievable.
 

Also I can’t find any dedicated charities for helping our fellow Canadians recover from this event, but if anyone finds a group or link I’ll be sure to add and donate.

 

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/derecho-leaves-behind-nearly-1000-km-of-damage-fatalities-in-wake-ontario-quebec

Edited May 25, 2022 by StanleyCupOneDay

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

You're doing it wrong - you need to title the thread, "OMG Extreme Weather?"  

 

But yes, it is a sad story.  I have many acquaintences who work in the Federal Government in the Captial District.  I haven't been able to reach any of them since it happened.  It's definitely concerning.

[StanleyCupOneDay]

4 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

You're doing it wrong - you need to title the thread, "OMG Extreme Weather?"  

 

But yes, it is a sad story.  I have many acquaintences who work in the Federal Government in the Captial District.  I haven't been able to reach any of them since it happened.  It's definitely concerning.

I know your tongue is firmly planted in your cheek, but there probably should be a thread dedicated to Climate Change or Extreme Weather.

 

Is power still out for them? I’m assuming yes since outages are likely widespread. I hope you’ll manage to reach them soon and that they’re all ok!

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

7 minutes ago, StanleyCupOneDay said:

I know your tongue is firmly planted in your cheek, but there probably should be a thread dedicated to Climate Change or Extreme Weather.

 

Is power still out for them? I’m assuming yes since outages are likely widespread. I hope you’ll manage to reach them soon and that they’re all ok!

I'm pretty sure there is a climate change thread somewhere here in OT.  And you read me well.  

 

Sounds like there are wide swaths of area that are still without power, though I read somewhere (I think it was CBC) that they're making progress.  Thanks - yes, I hope so too!

[Russ]

2 hours ago, StanleyCupOneDay said:

I know your tongue is firmly planted in your cheek, but there probably should be a thread dedicated to Climate Change or Extreme Weather.

 

Is power still out for them? I’m assuming yes since outages are likely widespread. I hope you’ll manage to reach them soon and that they’re all ok!

I think power is coming back on for a lot of them.  I was reading in my EV groups that people were using the V2L features on some of the new EVs for a day or so to keep things going but I think I read a bunch of them had the power back now (atleast in their areas).  

 

I will still never understand why we don't bury powerlines for the bit of extra cost as opposed to having them hang around trees all the time.

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

4 hours ago, Russ said:

I think power is coming back on for a lot of them.  I was reading in my EV groups that people were using the V2L features on some of the new EVs for a day or so to keep things going but I think I read a bunch of them had the power back now (atleast in their areas).  

 

I will still never understand why we don't bury powerlines for the bit of extra cost as opposed to having them hang around trees all the time.

When the power grid was developed, it was probably considering recovery time for once-in-a-century events as only happening once in a century, and designing towards that (including factoring in the lower costs of above-ground lines vs. the extensive cost and disruption cut and fill would require).  Taken in that context, you wouldn't expect the power lines to be significantly disrupted on such a wide scale all that frequently, and the overall cost savings expected would myopically justify the approach under the prevailing circumstances.

 

Climate change is (and will continue to be) the big game changer, and if engineers and city planners haven't already started taking it into account, reducing once-in-a-century possibilities down by a factor of 10 to once-in-a-decade and designing/costing accordingly, they're really asking for trouble.  In my humble opinion, of course.

[lmm]

My GF landed in Ottawa just moments before it hit. She turned her phone on from airplane mode and got the alert.

Her uncle got caught under an overpass, don't take refuge under an overpass, and got a broken window and his car was on 2 wheels twice.

Fortunately he did not blow away

SHe lost her luggage, as the airport staff disappeared and the luggage could not be unloaded for fear of lightning strike

day one of her long awaited holiday

she is currently refurbishing her wardrobe at the Giant Tiger in Perth

 

the Weather Network is calling it a Derecho

Derecho is Spanish for 'go straight'

So the storm cut a straight path from Detroit in a line North East

I had never heard of a Derecho before yesterday

[StanleyCupOneDay]

26 minutes ago, lmm said:

My GF landed in Ottawa just moments before it hit. She turned her phone on from airplane mode and got the alert.

Her uncle got caught under an overpass, don't take refuge under an overpass, and got a broken window and his car was on 2 wheels twice.

Fortunately he did not blow away

SHe lost her luggage, as the airport staff disappeared and the luggage could not be unloaded for fear of lightning strike

day one of her long awaited holiday

she is currently refurbishing her wardrobe at the Giant Tiger in Perth

 

the Weather Network is calling it a Derecho

Derecho is Spanish for 'go straight'

So the storm cut a straight path from Detroit in a line North East

I had never heard of a Derecho before yesterday

Glad she and her uncle are ok! You are absolutely right about overpasses, they are a terrible place to take shelter in a storm.
 

Iowa got hit by a bad Derecho in 2020 that caused $7.5B dollars in damage and that’s where I learned of the term myself, but before that I’d never heard of one either.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/10/17/iowa-derecho-damage-cost/

[DrJockitch]

It was pretty intense here.  We had brown out for a while, power was completely out for about 17 hours, my work lost power for days.

Luckily no damage to house.

Trees and power poles down everywhere.

[lmm]

1 hour ago, StanleyCupOneDay said:

Glad she and her uncle are ok! You are absolutely right about overpasses, they are a terrible place to take shelter in a storm.
 

Iowa got hit by a bad Derecho in 2020 that caused $7.5B dollars in damage and that’s where I learned of the term myself, but before that I’d never heard of one either.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/10/17/iowa-derecho-damage-cost/

re the overpass thing

I am an old car guy

in the days before fuel injection cars had carburetors

the trick with those things was the venturi, which is a narrow spot in the airflow path that caused the fuel to vaporize

when I think about being under an overpass in a storm, I think the effect might be similar

 

Apparently the uncle was trying to hide from the hail, but the hail came through the underpass sideways

it probably picked up speed on the way through

[StanleyCupOneDay]

24 minutes ago, lmm said:

re the overpass thing

I am an old car guy

in the days before fuel injection cars had carburetors

the trick with those things was the venturi, which is a narrow spot in the airflow path that caused the fuel to vaporize

when I think about being under an overpass in a storm, I think the effect might be similar

 

Apparently the uncle was trying to hide from the hail, but the hail came through the underpass sideways

it probably picked up speed on the way through

You’re exactly bang on the money. Overpasses act as wind tunnels that actually increases the speed of the wind and velocity of objects. When you try to squeeze fast moving air aka wind into a confined space it makes the air move faster because there’s more air pushing and trying to get through a smaller area instead of say an open field where air flow is unobstructed. Not only that, but there’s a much greater chance of a car accident from someone else driving not realizing you’ve stopped in the road.
 

This dangerous practice stems almost exclusively from a 90’s storm chaser video where people took cover under an overpass as a tornado was coming right at them. It was tossing a van around like a toy a few hundred meters away. What that video didn’t show or explain and is likely why those people all lived through it uninjured to post the video after is the tornado in question lifted up off the ground just as it had reached them. If you look at the video closely you can tell the tornado isn’t on the ground as it hits them. They were extremely lucky. They never felt the full effects of the winds.

Edited May 25, 2022 by StanleyCupOneDay

[Ghostsof1915]

Let's see.

Flooding

Forest Fires

Waterspouts

Major Storms

 

You'd think we're screwing up our environment or something......

[StanleyCupOneDay]

22 hours ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Let's see.

Flooding

Forest Fires

Waterspouts

Major Storms

 

You'd think we're screwing up our environment or something......

Don’t forget heat domes.
 

Climate change is happening now.
 

Sadly this is just the beginning. The only thing we can do is lessen the severity of impact on the future, the time to stop it has long passed.

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

13 minutes ago, StanleyCupOneDay said:

Don’t forget heat domes.
 

Climate change is happening now.
 

Sadly this is just the beginning. The only thing we can do is lessen the severity of impact on the future, the time to stop it has long passed.

Or we can try to adapt to it.

 

But then again, there's only so much adaptation/innovation that one can do before key resources (such as food and clean water) becomes scarce - and that's when we'll see another round of international (and probably inter-continental) warfare.