• Shelf clouds ahead of derecho in Chicago area

    Severe storms, called a derecho by meteorologists, moved through Chicago this morning. Ahead of the storm, people sighted a shelf cloud in Illinois.Shelf clouds often form at the leading edge of a gust front or outflow boundary from a thunderstorm, or strong winds

  • Power outages in Washington, DC area (satellite view)

    Extensive power outages in Washington, DC and Baltimore are visible in these images bellow posted by Earth Observatory on its website. Clouds obscure the lights of Philadelphia and other areas north and east of Baltimore. Of particular interest is the loss of light to

  • Rare severe destructive “derecho” barrels through Midwest

    A derecho (from the Spanish adverb for “straight”) is a long-lived windstorm that forms in a straight line — unlike the swirling winds of a tornado — and is associated with what’s known as a bow echo, a line of severe thunderstorms. The term “derecho” was first