Some Colorado thunderstorms are accompanied by brief, powerful wind gusts that can cause significant damage on the ground.
They’re called microbursts, and they could be responsible for some of the nearly 70-mph wind gusts across the Denver metro Tuesday. These strong gusts are also the likely culprit for a downed tree that snapped a set of power poles in Littleton.
Airtracker7 captured what appeared to be one of these microbursts later Tuesday afternoon, kicking up a dust cloud visible from the skies.
So, what causes a microburst? Denver7 meteorologist Danielle Grant explains in the video player below:
A microburst is a relatively small, relatively short-lived gust of wind, usually about two miles in diameter and lasting only a couple of minutes – but they can pack a punch. Some bring wind gusts up to 100 or even 150 mph.
You can have a wet microburst, which comes with precipitation at the surface, or a dry microburst with little to no precipitation making it to the ground. Tuesday’s microbursts in the Denver area were of the latter variety.
They happen when a big storm cloud creates an updraft with heavy rain inside. Drier air then moves in that evaporates the rain and cools the air – evaporative cooling – which causes the air to get heavier as it drops.
That air mass moves faster and pushes down the downdraft of the thunderstorm and is forced to push outward, and that’s when you get those powerful and dangerous wind gusts over a small area.
DENVER WEATHER LINKS: Hourly forecast | Radars | Traffic | Weather Page | 24/7 Weather Stream
Click here to watch the Denver7 live weather stream.