The animation above shows the advancement of the storm front and wind field in between 6 p.m. Central Time on December 14 (midnight UTC, December 15) and 3 a.m. CT (9:00 UTC) on December 16. The greatest winds appear intense yellow to white; more moderate winds (still gale-force) are tones of orange and brilliant purple. The GEOS design consumes wind data from more than 30 sources, consisting of ships, buoys, radiosondes, dropsondes, aircraft, and satellites. The heat and the high winds likewise triggered extreme fire weather cautions for parts of the Central and Southern Plains, as wildfires broke out in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.
By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
December 17, 2021
The storm brought hurricane-force winds, dust storms, twisters, wildfires, snow squalls, and heavy rain across the middle of the nation. Hundreds of thousands of houses and services lost electric power, and approximately 100 million Americans were under some kind of weather condition caution that day.
The animation above shows the development of the storm front and wind field in between 6 p.m. Central Time on December 14 (midnight UTC, December 15) and 3 a.m. CT (9:00 UTC) on December 16. The greatest winds appear brilliant yellow to white; more moderate winds (still gale-force) are shades of orange and brilliant purple. (35 meters per 2nd equates to roughly 80 miles per hour.) Atmospheric information were gone through the Goddard Earth Observing System Model-5 (GEOS-5), a data assimilation design that scientists at NASA utilize to examine international weather phenomena. The GEOS design ingests wind information from more than 30 sources, consisting of ships, buoys, radiosondes, dropsondes, aircraft, and satellites. The model output is spaced out on a 0.25 to 0.3 degree grid, so it does not necessarily catch peak gusts and extremes as determined by specific instruments on the surface.
The natural-color image listed below was acquired around 2 p.m. CT (20:00 UTC) on December 15 by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-20 spacecraft.
December 15, 2021.
This created a tight pressure gradient over the Rocky Mountains that produced intense winds. The storm produced at least 55 hurricane-force gusts (those going beyond 75 miles per hour), breaking the previous one-day record (considering that tracking started in 2004).
In Colorado, wind gusts went beyond 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour and dust storms swirled in the southeastern part of the state and in western Kansas. Snow and rain showers, in addition to at least 20 tornadoes, were reported along the squall line.
Ahead of the front, parts of the Southern Plains into the Upper Midwest saw record-breaking warm temperatures. In Wisconsin and Iowa, temperatures reached above 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 ° Celsius). The heat and the high winds likewise triggered extreme fire weather condition warnings for parts of the Central and Southern Plains, as wildfires broke out in Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), and GEOS-5 data from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC.
December 15– 16, 2021
Hurricane-force winds, dust storms, twisters, wildfires, snow squalls, heavy rain, and record-breaking heat accompanied an unusual December storm system.
A historical and anomalous December derecho– a windstorm associated with a abnormally strong and fast-moving line of thunderstorms– swept from the U.S. Southwest to the Upper Midwest on December 15, 2021 High-wind warnings were released from the Central and Southern High Plains to the Great Lakes, including storm warnings over the Great Lakes.
