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Experimental GOES Microburst Products
Operational Products Development Branch,
National Environmental Satellite,
Data, and Information Service (NESDIS),
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
U.S. Department of Commerce
(Advanced Audience)
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ELASTIC BACKSCATTER LIDAR OBSERVATIONS OF A
GUST FRONT PASSAGE OVER WASHINGTON DC
ON 7 MAY 2004
Shane D. Mayor & Numerous Authors,
National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR),
University Corporation for Atmospheric
Research (UCAR)
(Advanced to Technical Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Extreme Convective Windstorms: Current Understanding and Research
Charles A. Doswell III, NOAA/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
U.S. Department of Commerce
(Technical Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
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Forecasting Microbursts & Downbursts
Fernando Caracena, Forecast Systems Laboratory
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
U.S. Department of Commerce
(General Audience)
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Microburst Automatic Detection (MAD™)
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
(General Audience)
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Microburst - Photographs of microbursts and downbursts
Weather Photography, Australian Severe Weather,
Michael Bath & Jimmy Deguara
(General Audience)
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Microbursts
E. Linacre and B. Geerts
(General to Advanced Audience)
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Microbursts: A Handbook for Visual Identification
Fernando Caracena, Ronald L. Holle, & Charles A. Doswell III, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
U.S. Department of Commerce
(General to Advanced Audience)
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Microbursts and Their Numerical Simulation
Dr. Mark R. Hjelmfelt, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences,
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
(General to Technical Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
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POLARIMETRIC RADAR SIGNATURES IN
MICROBURST-PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS
Kevin A. Scharfenberg,
Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale
Meteorology Studies,
University of Oklahoma
(Advanced Audience)
(Adobe PDF file)
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SOUTHERN KANSAS / NORTHERN OKLAHOMA SUPERCELLS 27 MAY 2001 (Images)
Amos Magliocco, Cyclone Road
(General Audience)
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Storms: Analyzing and Predicting Mesoscale Weather
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
(General Audience)
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Tornado/Microburst Simulator
Wind Tunnel Test Facilities,
Wind Simulation and Testing (WiST) Laboratory,
Wind Engineering and Experimental
Aerodynamics (WEEA),
Aerospace Engineering (AerE),
College of Engineering,
Iowa State University (ISU)
(General Audience)
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Wind storms, Gust Fronts & Outflow
Gene Moore, Chase Day
(General Audience)
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The majesty of a looming thunderhead (colloquial for a thunderstorm
cloud, technically identified as cumulonimbus), highlighted in
bright white and tinged with shades of red and orange by a setting sun,
belies the truly violent and potentially deadly nature of the beast.
Viewed more closely, from beneath its base, the same storm takes on a truly
frightening aspect, cutting off sunlight to appear dirty grey or black,
with roiling, petulent fragments of cloud at its edges being ripped apart
by strong wind shear. Seen at night, this monster puts on a dazzling light
show, with high energy bolts of lightning crackling through the air to
shake the very earth with reverberation caused by the nearly instantaneous
heating of air molecules to temperatures hotter than the surface of the
sun.
Very strong and well-developed thunderstorms (referred to by
meteorologists as cells; or, in the case of certain severe
thunderstorms, supercells) can achieve heights exceeding
60,000 feet (18,000 meters). This pushes their tops well above the
maximum altitudes attainable by today’s commercial airliners. It is
fortunate that, except under the most extreme conditions, very few cells
in an advancing line of thunderstorms (known as a squall line)
can achieve such heights, leaving aircraft a means of navigating, albeit
with an often bumpy ride for passengers, through the breach.
Thunderstorms are capable of producing a variety of intense and severe
weather, including heavy rain, lightning, high straight-line winds,
hail, and tornadoes. Of special concern to aircraft, particularly during
takeoff and landing, are microbursts — strong downrush
winds which often radiate outward from intense thunderstorms as they
strike the Earth’s surface to form gust fronts or
outflow boundaries. Microbursts have been responsible for
commercial aviation crashes resulting in many deaths. Major airports have
now been outfitted with special instrumentation to warn of such winds.
The difference in air density between cold air plunging earthward behind
a gust front and the warmer, lighter (less dense) surface air may become
visible to weather radar as a thin arc advancing ahead of a thunderstorm
cell.
The National Weather Service is tasked with the responsibility for
determining thunderstorm and severe weather threat within the U.S.
Thunderstorm microbursts are one of a variety of severe weather threats
that must be assessed and accurately forecast by the NWS in order to
fulfill its mission of protecting the public.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 4 March 2004, updated 22 June
2005.
Follow links to the right to learn more about microbursts and gust fronts.
At the left margin, Related Links address topics of interest
pertaining to thunderstorms and severe weather, including severe weather watches and warnings, lightning
detection and monitoring, and other severe weather topics. View the
Weather & Meteorology SiteMap
for a complete list of meteorology and weather-related topics.
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