I watched the derecho from Ely- a solid sweep of line separating a white gray sky from a deep gray blue sky. In the middle of the sweep of line was sharp parabolic projection of the darkness- a strange and ominous sky. I watched the line move from east to west and realized that nose like point was probably passing over my house some 12 miles to the north west.
Then a wall of wind and dust blew up Sheridan (169) taking out the hanging banners and setting off car alarms- then a hard cold wind-driven rain.

My house is just past the crest of a ridge topped with a grove of mature jack pine- my drive was a tangle of downed trees, stacked two and three high- 3/4's of the tall Jack pines were snapped off. It took me 10 minutes to make my way up the 100 or so yards of drive and a good four hours with a chain saw before I could get the car up.

The house was untouched.