Widespread Severe Thunderstorms Including a Destructive Derecho First and Most Accurately Predicted by AccuWeather
Hundreds of severe thunderstorm reports occurred from the Northeast to the Midwest on July 15, 2024.
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Deadly storms and a derecho rolled through Illinois and Indiana on July 15. The wind caused trees and power lines to fall on homes, cars and streets.
AccuWeather Provides More Advance Notice and More Accurate Forecasts Ahead of Any Other Known Sources
Hundreds of severe thunderstorm reports occurred from the Northeast to the Midwest on July 15, 2024. These included dozens of damaging wind reports, tree damage, power outages, and a few tornadoes in the Northeast. In the Midwest, a destructive derecho with wind gusts of 80-90 mph caused extensive tree damage, hundreds of thousands of power outages, and the closure of Chicago's O'Hare airport for several hours.
>> RELATED: What is a derecho? Tips on how to prepare your business
On July 10, five days in advance of the storms and four days before any other known source, AccuWeather was the first to predict severe thunderstorms would occur across the interior Northeast. On the day of the derecho, AccuWeather was 13 hours ahead of all other known sources predicting a "high risk" for severe thunderstorms and correctly identified the specific area of greatest risk from eastern Iowa to Indiana.
• On July 10, five days in advance and four days prior to any other known source, AccuWeather expert meteorologists were first to identify a risk for severe thunderstorms across the interior Northeast on July 15. At the same time, until July 14, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) only noted "predictability too low" or "probability too low".
• Early on July 15, 13 hours before the SPC, AccuWeather provided the first notice of a "high risk" of severe thunderstorms where the derecho occurred.
– AccuWeather also correctly predicted widespread 80-90 mph wind gusts and an AccuWeather Local StormMaxTM of 105 mph. There were numerous wind gusts above 80 mph and a few that just exceeded 100 mph, exactly as AccuWeather predicted.
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• AccuWeather was the only known source to use forecast phrasing that conveyed the significant risk of destructive winds from rapidly moving storms. These superior descriptions included:
– "significant risk for destructive winds and a tornado at night."
– "significant risk for destructive winds and a few tornadoes from rapidly moving storms"
• Weeks in advance, AccuWeather provided the only known accurate forecasts of a weather pattern that was conducive for a derecho in the Midwest:
– On June 7, over a month in advance, AccuWeather predicted "there is an increased risk of at least one derecho in the Midwest over the coming weeks" and "conditions are favorable for long-lived intense thunderstorm clusters from the Dakotas to Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic through mid-July."
– On July 7, over a week in advance, AccuWeather Storm Warning Meteorologists issued a Storm Potential Outlook (SPO), the only known forecast to accurately predict severe thunderstorm risk on Monday, July 15, across Iowa and Illinois, including Chicago.
More than 100 times every year, AccuWeather has been documented as providing more accurate, more advance notification of significant and extreme weather events that impact businesses and threaten the health, welfare, and lives of individuals. AccuWeather is proven to be the most accurate source of weather forecasts and warnings.
These are additional examples of the many weather events where AccuWeather provided superior forecasts and impact descriptions to people, communities, and businesses, helping them better prepare and stay safe.
