Seriously? A what...? - 2006-07-04 19:15
A microburst. I’d never heard of one before, but I got an email from my parents last Sunday (July 2) describing a microburst at their house. Luckily no one was hurt, but the deck will need a bit of work.
Hi, folks,
Well, we had an exciting Sunday afternoon. At just about 6 o’clock, I heard a bit of thunder. I was in the basement workshop. I went to the door and looked up at the sky. Blue sky directly overhead, with some light gray clouds moving slowly our way. A few drops were beginning to fall, and I thought there wouldn’t be much of shower with the sky so light.
I went back to the workbench. As soon as I got there I heard a large crack of thunder. I went back to the door and looked out. IT wasn’t thunder; this tree had been broken off in those 20 sec. The wind was blowing so hard I could hardly shut the door. Then rain in sheets. I hustled over to the bedroom side of the basement, calling Lois to come downstairs. When I got to the other side and looked out the window, rain was blowing literally horizontally. It was so hard, the only thing I could see was whiteness. I could not see the black asphalt road that was just 150’ outside our back door.
In 5 minutes it was over, and we’re so glad the house was not damaged. The deck is broken badly and the rain gutters damaged. Some other outside damage, but the tree fell in the opposite direction of the shed which didn’t suffer any damage. Only four trees were damaged, two of which are gone – an 80 ft 30in diameter oak and a 15 ft dogwood. Amazing.
It was a microburst or mini-tornado. I’d estimate the wind a more than 60 mph.
More later. We and the dogs are fine! :-)
You can’t tell from the picture, but the thing that looks like a fallen tree is actually just a branch from the huge tree on the left. There is still about 40 feet of that tree left in the ground. The wind was so strong that is just ripped the top right off!