[EAS] 9-1-1 Outages From Derecho/Windstorm

[Tim Stoffel]

Mike,
    This storm system started out somewhere west of Lake Ontario in Canada. The 1,000 islands are in the western end of this lake. The storm system proceeded across western New York, doing extensive damage in Rochester and Syracuse. The weather service called this event a derecho, and this was the first time I had ever heard that term used.
    I did not know that there is mesocyclonic activity in a storm that is likely to cause a derecho. I had always been told that these storms were the result of frequent microbursts, caused by the collapse of updrafts in very rapidly growing 'normal' thunderstorms. I guess I need to do a little more research on these events.
    If I still lived in the Midwest (where I grew up), I would almost certainly have become a storm chaser.

Thanks!
Tim Stoffel

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> In your example, it's entirely possible that either occurred due to minimal resistance of wind over the water
> upwind from the island. The result being the more intense damage.