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5mo ago

Houston Marks One Year Since Devastating Derecho with Focus on Resilience

Researchers analyze May 2024 storm data to improve forecasting and urban planning as Houston adapts to lessons learned from the rare destructive event.

Bailey Hatfield walks past a toppled tree in the backyard of her home on June 22, 2023, in Spring after an overnight storm blew through the area, knocking out power and downing trees.
A pedestrian stops to take a photo of the storm-damaged Wells Fargo building in Houston as storm cleanup continued on May 20, 2024. The city closed off streets in a six-block exclusion zone downtown, from McKinney to Polk streets and from Smith to Travis, to ease traffic around the area littered with broken glass and debris.
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Overview

  • The May 2024 derecho struck Houston with wind gusts of 80–100 mph, causing severe structural damage, power outages, and fatalities.
  • Derechos are rare, requiring specific meteorological conditions, and are less common than other severe storm systems like tornadoes.
  • About 70% of derechos occur during the warm season, primarily affecting regions like the upper Mississippi River Valley and southern Plains.
  • Houston's history with derechos includes the Texas Boaters Derecho of 1986 and a record 97 mph wind gust in June 2023, though neither matched the scale of the 2024 event.
  • Current research at the University of Houston focuses on using storm data to develop simulations and update building codes to better prepare for future wind events.