OHIO, USA — The extreme 100-degree heat finally bubbled over on the afternoon of June 29, 2012. A massive wind driven storm erupted over Indiana and swept into Ohio with strong damaging winds and torrential downpours.
This massive storm is known as a derecho.
According to the National Weather Service, a derecho is "a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms." This means this storm that impacted millions traveled at least 400 miles and had winds over 58 mph for a minimum of 240 miles.
Following this storm, many across Ohio ended up with downed trees and without power. Driving on the roads became impossible due to damaging wind gusts over 70 mph and the amount of wind driven rain.
Nearly 4 million homes and businesses were without power from Indiana to Ohio to Virginia.
Well over a million households and business in Ohio, nearly two thirds of the state, were without power. For some areas, it was a week or two, or more to have power fully restored.
This storm can be considered as to have produced the most widespread power outages ever recorded in Ohio history.
What started as small thunderstorms grew into a massive derecho. It began to show early signs for derecho development as it entered Indiana.
The region was also experiencing one of the hottest summers on record with higher humidity, giving it all the right ingredients for a derecho to develop.
This system ended up traveling more then 700 miles across at least nine states.
There were times when the winds picked up to hurricane force wind speeds, which is over 74 mph. Wind gusts reached 87 mph in northwest Ohio, 82 mph in central Ohio, and 91 mph in northeast Indiana.
There were 22 fatalities associated with this storm. Due to the extremely hot temperatures and no power in the following days, there were additional deaths.
Damage caused by the storm totaled near $3 billion.
The most recent derecho to impact the Midwest was on August 10, 2020, which caused $11 billion worth of damage.
Derechos are not rare for Ohio and can occur more than once in the summer season.
The June 2012 derecho is remembered for being something that not many people had experienced before, as well as its destruction and strength.
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