the.com/microburst
a column of air that slams down and explodes sideways, hurling planes from the sky
means A sudden, intense downdraft of air from a storm that hits the ground and bursts outward in all directions, creating dangerous wind shear over a small area.
from A modern compound stitched from Greek 'mikros' (small) and 'burst,' an old Germanic word for a violent breaking-open — related to Old English 'berstan.' The term was coined in the 1970s by meteorologist Ted Fujita (of tornado-scale fame), who identified these localized killer downdrafts while investigating airline crashes — naming them 'small' to distinguish them from the broader 'downburst.'
- size
- often under 2.5 miles wide, terrifyingly local
- speed
- winds can exceed 100 mph downward
- lifespan
- the whole assault lasts mere minutes
- aviation killer
- downed multiple jets before radar caught on
- sneaky
- can strike on a nearly clear day
for instance
delta flight 191 microburst — crashed at dallas fort worth airport 1985, 137 deaths from wind shear