EXPLAINER: Windstorm was likely a derecho. What is that?

By The Associated Press

A National Weather Service meteorologist says a long line of quick-moving thunderstorms across northern Texas and Oklahoma late Sunday likely qualified the event as a derecho. A derecho is often described as an inland hurricane. The storm has no eye and its powerful winds come across in a line, potentially causing widespread damage. Ryan Maue is a private meteorologist in the Atlanta area and a former chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He says a derecho can develop from a series of separate storms, usually carrying hail and strong winds, that combine and build into a larger bowing complex. The term “bow” describes how the storm appears on radar.