Microbursts
Stuart Walker takes a closer look at what causes microbursts–those extreme examples of common downdrafts–after a tragedy on Lake Norman, N.C., in May 1989.
“For five to eight minutes, ‘the lake itself seemed to be lifted from its bed,’ a mixture of ‘lake water, rain and hail’ blew ‘like a fire hose’ in a layer 10-feet deep across its surface, and 7 foot waves broke over its banks and flooded ashore,” writes Walker. “The downburst that hit the lake must have come from nearly overhead, must have impacted a relatively small area, and as it splashed across the surface, must have affected even nearby boats quite differently.”
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