More than a million without power in Midwest from severe storms, heat wave continues Northeast

A derecho moved through the Midwest yesterday from Nebraska to Ohio producing more than 500 damaging severe storm reports and leaving more than one million people without power.

A derecho is a powerful line of severe storms that produces straight line winds that can cause major damage.

The highest winds in this derecho were in Linn County, Iowa, of 112 mph.

In Lee County, Illinois, winds gusted to 92 mph and in Chicago’s Lincoln Square, a weather observation recorded a wind gust to 85 mph.

Meanwhile, the Northeast still has thousands of people that are without power from last week’s Tropical Storm as the heat wave is set to continue there.

Eight states from New Jersey to Maine are under Heat Advisory where some areas could feel like it’s 95 to 102 degrees.

So when will this sauna-like weather will be over in the Northeast? Looks like not until Thursday and Wednesday will be another hot and humid day.

In the West, it’s bone dry with erratic gusty winds that are spreading wildfires quickly.

Because of these dry and windy conditions, the Grizzly Creek Fire in western Colorado spread so quickly that interstate 70 had to be shut down overnight.

The fire is now covers 1,300 acres and containment is currently unknown.

Ten western states are under Red Flag Warnings, Fire Weather Watches and Excessive Heat Watches.

Western Colorado is expected to see gusty winds to near 30 mph with relative humidity as low as 7%.

An Excessive Heat Watch has been issued for southern California deserts and into Arizona including Phoenix where temperatures are expected to reach 110 to 120 by the end of the week.