美国国家公共电台 NPR--Derechos, or fierce windstorms, are becoming regulars in the Midwest

Derechos, or fierce windstorms, are becoming regulars in the Midwest

Transcript¹

Severe storms and tornadoes² are common in the Midwest and Great Plains, and now Derechos are becoming well-known too. (Story first aired on All Things Considered on Dec. 20, 2022.)

WEATHER

'Derechos,' or fierce windstorms, are becoming regulars in the Midwest

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The winter storm of recent days was worse than usual in many places. But, of course, severe cold and severe weather are common in the Midwest and on the Plains. One year ago this month, the fierce winds of a derecho were part of storms that hit Iowa and nearby states, killing³ at least five people and leaving devasted neighborhoods. Now scientists are working to figure out what future derechos might look like. Iowa Public Radio's Katie Peikes reports.

KATIE PEIKES, BYLINE⁴: December 15, 2021, was an unseasonably warm day - record highs in the 70s in some parts of Iowa - when a derecho blew through. The widespread, long-lived windstorm hit Matt Thompson's seed-and-fertilizer-application business more than 70 miles northwest of Des Moines.

MATT THOMPSON: There was a building there. You can see the pad still sitting there, the gravel⁵. That's where one of the buildings was.

PEIKES: Lost Grove⁶ Ag Services lost five of its six buildings. Thompson recalls getting to the business early the next morning to survey the damage.

THOMPSON: And when the sun came up, it was - we didn't know what we were going to do. It was pretty devastating⁷ to see. It was unbelievable. I'll never forget that.

PEIKES: This derecho was unique, the first recorded in December anywhere in the U.S. Wind gusts⁸ exceeded 80 miles per hour. The straight-line winds and tornadoes that accompanied left nearly $2 billion in damage stretching from Kansas to Michigan. Iowa, in particular, has been caught in the crosshairs of derechos over the last couple of years. Bill Gallus is a meteorology professor at Iowa State University. He says derechos thrive on warm, humid air in the atmosphere's lower levels, creating thunderstorms, something the Midwest often has.

BILL GALLUS: Those thunderstorms are able to tap into very strong winds happening higher up in the atmosphere, even up toward the jet stream, so that they can bring those strong winds down to the ground. That is what happened in the recent December 2021 derecho in the Midwest.

PEIKES: There isn't a lot of research on derechos, so scientists say it's hard to know how they'll fare in a warming earth. Gallus says there's more energy in the atmosphere as it warms, and that could pave the way for more powerful and more frequent derechos. But scientists can't say for sure. And some attribute the uncertainty⁹ to the fact that there's no official database for derechos like there is for hurricanes or tornadoes where they can look for historic trends. That's something the National Weather Service is working on. Meteorologist Matthew Elliott says derechos have no formal definition.

MATTHEW ELLIOTT: When you hear the word derecho, it's got to trigger something. It's got to trigger that this is the worst windstorm that I'm going to see.

PEIKES: Once they have a label and better data, Elliott says it'll make forecasting derechos easier and will give people more warning to get to safety. The National Weather Service has improved the alert system. That's after a highly destructive derecho hit the Midwest back in August 2020, killing four people. Now when a severe thunderstorm warning is issued with strong winds of at least 80 miles per hour, people get an alert on their phones. But Walker Ashley, a disaster geographer¹⁰ at Northern Illinois University, says more should be done with urban planning and building codes.

WALKER ASHLEY: We build at the bare minimum standards in this country. And that has all sorts of consequences from heating costs to damage within extreme damaging wind events.

PEIKES: After all, Ashley says as cities grow and sprawl¹¹ out, they're putting more people in harm's way of extreme weather like derechos. For NPR News, I'm Katie Peikes in Ames, Iowa.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

6 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

7 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

8 gusts   

一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作

参考例句：

• Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
• Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。

9 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

10 geographer   

n.地理学者

参考例句：

• His grandfather is a geographer.他的祖父是一位地理学家。
• Li Siguang is a famous geographer.李四光是一位著名的地理学家。

11 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。