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Regardless of skepticism, derechos are still scary

5stateweather.com/Storm Junkies
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There's an alarming red banner at the top of weather.com's Ann Arbor page: "BEWARE: Dangerous Commute Ahead!"

If the storm does turn into a derecho, there's reason to worry. Driving through one is intense

Yesterday, there was talk of a derecho that would pass through southeastern Michigan and the surrounding Midwest on Wednesday evening. 

Meteorologists are still unsure if the severe weather will turn into a derecho, but it might. 

Storm Junkies posted this photo on Facebook from 5stateweather.com:

The National Weather Service  Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma is forecasting "the development of widespread damaging winds and a few strong tornadoes over parts of the portions of the middle Mississippi Valley East to the upper Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes this afternoon and tonight."

Weather.com is predicting major storms to hit southeastern Michigan beginning at 8 p.m. 

The Storm Prediction Center produced this series of weather maps, all of which contain southeastern Michigan.

Credit Storm Junkies / Facebook
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A compilation of NWS Storm Prediction Center maps for today

In order for a thunderstorm to qualify as a derecho, it must produce "a damaging wind swath of at least 250 miles" and have winds that are at least 58 miles per hour. We'll see what we get tonight.

-- Lucy Perkins, Michigan Radio Newsroom

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