A series of time-lapse photographs compiled into a video showing the potential power of a microburst.
The first 24 secs of the video shows the storm's formation and subsequent downdrafts.
25 secs to 38 secs is a cropped replay of the initial downburst and
38secs to the end is a replay of the second -- cropped again.
Don't get caught watching the swirling clouds .. keep your attention towards the ground.
We can get microbursts/downdraughts like that from time to time and they can be very destructive. Not only do you get huge amounts of water (literally in seconds) but the winds created by the phenomenon can tear limbs from trees, knock down small buildings and overturn vehicles. It's like someone dropped a giant water-balloon on an area and you get a circular 'blast-zone' expanding from it.
Crying out loud!!!!! I've read about these micro bursts and how aircraft have crashed because of them but never realised how powerful they are until now!! They seem to get their fare share of micro bursts in the states however, do we have micro bursts to this extent here?
Regards
Nigel.
I used to be an optimist but with age I am now a grumpy old pessimist.
Nigel H-J wrote:Crying out loud!!!!! do we have micro bursts to this extent here?
Regards
Nigel.
I don't really think so , although any cu-nim can produce shears and downdraughts of catastrophic proportions. It's a long long time since I did my climatology, but from what I remember it is the available amount of heat which governs how much moisture a given system can accumulate, and here in Europe, compared with the midwest US, we just do not have a big enough heat engine ( and nor in the UK do we have the mountain systems which create sufficient instability for these big systems to develop) . That having been said, if one looks regularly at satellite pics of the Alps and Italy one sees that there is enough instability to create some very violent storms as has happened in the last 14 days
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if it did , ..you'd at least have fresh, prewashed tossed salad... 
