Great Hurricane Lola Derecho of 2187 (wsc)

The **Great Hurricane Lola Derecho of 2187** was a devastating hybrid derecho which struck the US Gulf coast before the Hurricane Lola landfall in mid - September. However, the deaths and damages are generally listed as being part of Hurricane Lola's totals. However, it has been established that the derecho caused $2 trillion in damages, which was the costliest natural disaster at the time, until surpassed by Hurricane Lola over the coming days.

## Meteorological history

On September 1, Hurricane Lola developed near to the Cuban coast. By September 11th, it was a dangerous category 7 hurricane, and on its way to its final landfall in Gulfport, Mississippi which collided with an unstable air mass, forming a derecho with a central core pressure of 997 hpa.
Later on the same day, the new low had deepened a remarkable 107 hpa to 892 hpa within 6 hours, setting numerous new weather records in the process.
At 2am the following morning, the low had an all time record low derecho pressure of 860 hpa, breaking the4 previous record set by the same system the day before. A new non tornadic wind speed record was also set at the same location, recorded at 312 mph in the local NWS offices.
When Lola made landfall that evening, in Gulfport, Mississippi, the derecho was responsible for, in part, for 712 tornadoes over the coming days spawned by Hurricane Lola and the systems remains. In 24 hours alone, almost 650 tornadoes were reported, of which almost 500 were confirmed by the SPC., also setting new weather records in the process.

## Preparations

As Lola's cloud patterns began to show up on Doppler radar imagery in New Orleans, distinct low pressure pockets were found to be located within Lola's core of rotation, and a derecho watch was issued. This was further upgraded into a derecho alert after 3-second sustained gusts of 86 mph, 139 mph and 81 mph were reportedto the local NWS offices in Louisiana. At the same time, the storm system was classified as a severe derecho by the SPC.
The wind gusts continued to increase, and afer reports of gusts sustained at 302 mph, 312 mph and 271 mph were reported, the extreme derecho alert was given to those in the storms path.

## Impacts

The exact impacts of the storm system are unknown, due to the fact that Lola came ashore so soon after the event had occurred.
The derecho is geberally thought to have caused 71 deaths, 385 injuries. The damages done by the derecho were singled out at $2 trillion ,making it the coastliest disaster at the time, until the damage surveys for Hurircane Lola were carried out several days later.

## Records

The highest non tornadic wind speed recorded was done so during the derecho, with a 3-second sustained gust reaching 312 mph at 2am on the 13th.
Also,m the lowest non - tropical cyclone pressure of 860 hpa was officially confirmed at the NWS offices in New Orleans at 2:35 am on the 13th.
Until the damage surveys for Hurricane Lola were complete several months later, the derecho was the costliest natural disaster on record, with $2 trillion in damages confirmed.

## Disputings

As the derecho was part of the larger Hurricane Lola, in which the great derecho was located, the derecho is generally thought to have been a part of Hurricane Lola. This has led to several agencies classifying the system as a separate system, whilst others classify the storm system as part of the larger Hurircane Lola.