A tornado is a powerful updraft with intense winds that spiral inward. A downburst is the exact opposite. A downburst occurs when hail or large raindrops fall into dry air and melt or evaporate, cooling the air very abruptly and intensely. This quickly cooled air becomes much heavier than it was a few moments before, since cold air is denser and heavier than warm air. This pillar of cold air plunges towards the ground, literally falling under its own weight, and flows out of the bottom of the thundercloud.
In 1985 the Delta Airlines flight 191 was arriving at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The evening the plane was approaching DFW there was a strong thunderstorm moving through the area. As the plane approached at a low altitude a downburst caused a microburst. Because of the microburst the plane was pushed downward and caused the plane crash. The debris was thown onto highway 114 and killed many people on the highway. 135 people were killed and 27 people survived but they were all injured.
Tornadoes do have an upward wind rotation, causing everything to be sucked into it. Tornadoes also have different strengths, some are so small that they can only pick up dust and others powerful enough to destroy whole neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteThere are 2 other types of common tornadoes, Dust Devils and Water Spouts. Dust Devils have an upward rotation of air that traps and swirls dirt and other small debris. They are usually harmless, but they can become 10 meter wide 1000 meter tall spirals of death.
Water Spouts are in definition a tornado that forms over a body of water. A Water Spout's funnel looks like it is sucking up water from the body of water it formed over, but the water you see is really condensation formed inside of it.
Did you know, the only difference between a downburst and a microburst is; a downburst is a strong downdraft which causes damaging winds on or near the ground.
ReplyDeleteThe term "microburst" describes the size of the downburst.