No, it wasn't an inland hurricane. The National Weather Service (click link to see radar image and read NWS reports on the storm) in Paducah, Ky., call the May 8 storm a Derecho. Derecho (pronounced deh-REY-cho) is Spanish for "straight." This particular storm was measured 34 to 46 miles in diameter. The average derecho only comes in at 12 miles wide.
This storm was one for the books, and one storm experts will be studying for years to come. Along with the winds--which were clocked at 81 mph in Carbondale and at 106 in some locaions, this storm carried with it a few tornadoes, hail, heavy rains, and stretched from the Mississippi River to the Ohio, cutting a path of falled trees, damaged houses, and over 80,000 homes without electricity at one time or another. Nearly two weeks later, and some remote areas of Southern Illinois are still without power.
Sources:
Weather Service: Storm was a 'derecho' The Southern Illinoisan, May 16, 2009, page 1A
National Weather Sevice, Paducah, Ky. Weather Forecast Office, www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display
May 20, 2009
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