From the evening of May 16, 2024, to midday May 17, 2024, a derecho struck the Gulf Coast of the United States from Southeast Texas to Florida, causing widespread damage, particularly in the city of Houston and surrounding metropolitan area.

[7] At least seven people were killed by the storms, dubbed the Houston derecho by the National Weather Service,[7] which brought winds up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) along with four tornadoes.

[14] Farther east across southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana, a greater surge of moisture began to advect with a northward-moving warm front bringing dewpoints as high as the upper-70s °F into the coastal counties.

Forecasters believed that not only would thunderstorms develop along the frontal boundary, but also that the front may act to intensify the pre-existing line of storms approaching from the west.

[16] By mid-afternoon, an expansive mesoscale convective system evolved across much of central and eastern Texas, exhibiting numerous updrafts and an increasing potential for extensive damaging winds.

[17] As this complex surged southeastward, it evolved into a derecho—a particularly long-lived and widespread damaging wind event—as it moved into the Greater Houston metropolitan area.

As such, the threat of inland severe weather decreased,[22] leaving behind widespread damaging wind reports across portions of the Gulf Coast states.