macrobursts

in

(This is not about my newsletter, but about this week’s storm): Hellacious damage in nearby town reinforced how lucky we got ( I do not, unlike several people in the area – tourist traffic now including storm tourism – stop to take photos of others’ misery for my own use).

Anyhow, it seems that the cause all of the devastation wasn’t a tornado but a “macroburst”:

A macroburst is an outward burst of strong winds at or near the surface with horizontal dimensions larger than 4 km (2.5 mi) and occurs when a strong downdraft reaches the surface. To visualize this process, imagine the way water comes out of a faucet and hits the bottom of a sink. The column of water is the downdraft and the outward spray at the bottom of the sink is the macroburst. Macroburst winds may begin over a smaller area and then spread out over a wider area, sometimes producing damage similar to a tornado. Although usually associated with thunderstorms, macrobursts can occur with showers too weak to produce thunder.

Outages continue, though they’re making restorative progress. Useful site: poweroutage.us. – I’m in the orange county above the red one. Like I’ve said, we’ve had power since 1400 on Tuesday. Estimates for rest of area range from later today to this weekend – though excessive heat and scattered storms today might throw a spanner into those works.