I’ve been interested in the weather for I don’t know how long and I’ve never heard of a Derecho before and now all of a sudden Derecho is everywhere.

I think the weather forecasters all got together and made up a word to confuse and astound us and make us think that forecasting weather is something a little more systematic and reliable than simply tossing darts at a map.

“And now to the weather. Bill?”

“Well, Don, forecast for tomorrow, let’s see, it looks like it’s <thwack> hmm, it’s a-gonna rain <thwack> right up there in the northeastern part of the city. Better bring your umbuhrella. It doesn’t look like a complete washout and the rain should clear out about <thwack> 7:00. But don’t worry folks a-cuz sunny skies should return by this up-a-comin’ <thwack> Tuesday. Back to you, uh, <thwack> rain. Uh, Ron…”

“Don.”

Furthering my suspicions about the genuineness of Derecho is the pronunciation. As a weather fan I thought it my obligation to be able to pronounce the word in conversation so I looked it up and couldn’t find the word at either dictionary.com or Meriam-Webster online.

The word Suspicious is listed at both reference sites.

Hmm . . .

Apparently the answer to this weather mystery is not blowin’ in the wind.