El Ni ? o is officially over, but that doesn't mean the US is out of the woods when it comes to severe weather.
Already this year, we've seen more than 700 tornadoes, USA Today reports, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that hurricane season, which begins June 1, will be an above-normal one.
"As the atmosphere transitions out of El Ni ? 'o, there is a constant train of moist gulf air meeting up with cool air coming over the Rocky Mountains," meteorologist Eric Snitil says.
"For many states, hearing that severe weather is on its way is becoming a regulareven weekly or daily occurrence."
A derecho is a "long-lived and widespread thunderstorms that move quickly across a long distance," Snitil says.
"If the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles and includes wind gusts of at least 58mph or greater along most of its length, then the event may be classified as a derecho."
In Colorado on May 20, for example, hail the size of baseballs hit the Yuma area, USA Today reports.
The storms killed at least eight people in Texas, three in Louisiana, and left more than a million without power.
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