The Storm Prediction Center has classified the severe storms that rolled through Central New York on Wednesday as as a derecho. A derecho is a line of powerful storms that last for at least 6 hours and produce widespread winds over 60 mph. This derecho also produce violent winds in pockets over 75 mph.
The derecho started around 1 pm off of Lake Ontario, rolled through Central New York between 2-3:30 pm, and continued east into New England into the late evening. There were over 250 reports of damaging winds, with Albany reporting the strongest wind gust ever recorded in the month of October.
The last derecho to impact Central New York was the Labor Day storms of 1998.
