the.com/downburst
a slug of plummeting air that hits the ground and runs flat in every direction
means A sudden, powerful downdraft of air from a thunderstorm that slams into the ground and spreads outward, producing damaging straight-line winds.
from A compound of plain English parts — "down" plus "burst" — coined in the 1970s by meteorologist Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita, the same storm-chasing scientist behind the tornado intensity scale. He needed a word for the violent column of sinking air that brought down planes and flattened crops in patterns no tornado could explain, and "downburst" did exactly what it says: air bursting downward.
- wind speed
- can exceed 150 mph, rivaling tornadoes
- plane killer
- caused multiple fatal airline crashes before detection improved
- discovery
- identified by Ted Fujita in the 1970s
- size
- microbursts span under 2.5 miles wide
- telltale sign
- trees splayed outward instead of twisted
lubbock texas downburst 1970 — derecho that produced 100+ mph winds and killed 26 people, one of the first documented downbursts
jeddah saudi arabia 2009 — downburst with 79 mph winds that caused major damage and casualties in the red sea port city
chicago o'hare 1995 — northwest airlines flight 191 crashed during downburst with wind shear, 585 fatalities