If you ever needed more proof that nature is determined to destroy everything you know and love, consider that a small cluster of thunderstorms that formed in Minnesota on Sunday night grew into a powerful derecho that lasted for 30 hours, traveling nearly 1,200 miles before croaking in North Carolina.

Round two of a three-day severe weather outbreak across the eastern half of the United States is getting ready to unfold across the Midwest this evening and tonight. The atmosphere is getting antsy, and it looks primed to produce more destructive straight-line winds and maybe even a strong tornado or two. The storms also have the potential to develop into another derecho, much like the one we saw today.

A classic summertime severe weather outbreak is likely to unfold over the next few days across the eastern half of the U.S., with each day seeing the potential for extensive straight-line wind damage, large hail, and some tornadoes. The storms could organize into a much-hyped feature known as a “derecho.”

An intense line of thunderstorms ripped, tore, screamed, blasted, and raced through the state of Iowa this morning, producing wind gusts exceeding 90 MPH in spots. Right or wrong, the storm is being touted as a “derecho” in the media; regardless of the name, the storms were brutal.

An incredibly long and impressive line of thunderstorms swept through the central United States on Thursday night, stretching more than 1,200 miles long at its largest extent. The storms left more than 300 of reports of damaging winds and large hail in its wake.

The Storm Prediction Center declared both lines of storms that formed on Monday derechos, each producing a swath of damage several hundred miles long. The first derecho was downright impressive on radar imagery.

A deadly derecho swept across the Midwestern United States on Monday evening, killing at least one person in Iowa as it caused major damage along its path and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people. It's not over yet, either — another line of severe storms is on its heels.

"This is a particularly dangerous situation," says the Storm Prediction Center as a derecho is hauling eastward towards the Chicago metro area after producing 80 MPH winds across Iowa. The line should reach the Chicago metro area during rush hour, sometime between 530 and 630 Central Time this evening.

A high risk for severe weather is in place for the Midwest this evening as a life-threatening severe weather outbreak unfolds. Meteorologists issued the highest risk possible as they are now expecting a derecho, or a dangerous line of thunderstorms that produces destructive hurricane-force winds over hundreds of miles.

The media can't survive without a scare term to make you tune in. This winter saw the not-at-all-new-but-scary-sounding polar vortex. Sandy wasn't really a "superstorm" but hey, let's just call it one anyway. And every summer for the last few years, we've seen the derecho. It sounds new and terrifying, but what is it?