page_title: June 2010 Northern Plains tornado outbreak
section_title: June 18 Midwest derechos
hierarchical_section_title: June 2010 Northern Plains tornado outbreak / June 18 Midwest derechos
caption_attribution_description: English: National Weather Service Enhanced Radar Mosaic Loop GL, on the night of June 18th showing the two destructive derechos in the Midwest.
context_page_description: The June 2010 Northern Plains tornado outbreak was one of the most prolific summer tornado outbreaks in the Northern Great Plains of the United States on record. The outbreak began on June 16 with several tornadoes in South Dakota and Montana. The most intense storms took place the following day across much of eastern North Dakota and much of Minnesota. The system produced 93 tornadoes reported across four states while killing three people in Minnesota. Four of the tornadoes were rated as EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the most violent tornadoes in a 24-hour period since there were five within 15 hours on February 5–6, 2008. This was the region's first major tornado outbreak of the year and one of the largest on record in the region, comparable to a similar outbreak in June 1992. The 48 tornadoes that touched down in Minnesota on June 17 marked the most active single day in the state's history. June 17 was the second largest tornado day on record in the meteorological summer, behind the most prolific day of the 2003 South Dakota tornado outbreak on June 24, 2003.
context_section_description: Following the prolific tornado outbreak, a mesoscale convective system developed across eastern Nebraska in the Omaha area during the morning hours of June 18. It gradually intensified before moving into the Des Moines area near midday. The bow echo intensified into an intense progressive derecho over eastern Iowa and propagated eastward into northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin that afternoon. Extensive damage was reported from the derecho, including in the Chicago metropolitan area as the derecho reached that region shortly before 4:00 pm CDT (2100 UTC). Nearly 300,000 customers lost power and windows were blown out of high-rise buildings in downtown Chicago.
  Some counties utilized warning sirens due to the derecho's extreme winds, despite the fact there was no tornado.
  The derecho continued eastward, maintaining its strength over southern Lower Michigan and northern Indiana in the early evening hours. Winds as high as 90 mph (150 km/h) were reported in southwest Michigan with widespread damage over the region). The storm knocked out power to nearly 300,000 customers of Commonwealth Edison in the Chicago area. Windows were blown out of several high rises in downtown Chicago, including the tallest building, the Willis Tower. 
   More than 100,000 lost power in the immediate Detroit region including in Oakland and Wayne Counties, over 75,000 in the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo regions  and over 50,000 in northern Indiana and southwestern Michigan. The derecho finally weakened and rapidly dissipated as it reached Lake Erie.
  During the evening hours of June 18, a second, weaker derecho formed over Iowa and began following a path similar to the first one, and by 8:45 pm CDT (0145 UTC) the storm was moving across Illinois causing damage in areas already affected by the initial derecho event before weakening and dissipating. One fatality was reported from the event in northern Indiana and in Dexter, Michigan. This storm also produced dangerous lightning with two homes hit by lightning in Dexter and Scio Twp in Michigan.
caption: A NWS enhanced radar image of the two derechos in the Midwest on the night of June 18th, 2010.
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