Thank you, Kate. And thank you for the restack. It sure is crazy weather we've been experiencing. Here in the High Country, we had an unusually cool wet summer followed by an autumn drought, then a colder than normal start to winter, a poor snow season and an early, and very windy, spring.
I'm sorry for your first hand experience with this unusual violent storm, but your description and information was informative and interesting. Such odd and different experiences all across the globe.
Thank you, Leslie. Thankfully, our house is built well and we felt safe inside, although the clean-up of the garden took a bit of work. There are some remarkable weather events around the world. We live in a fascinating place :)
Thanks so much for the shout out Alia - I really appreciate it!! Love the term “microbursts” - weirdly, I think it perfectly describes my approach to poetry 😂
Hi Alia, I am sorry to hear you experienced such a sudden, violent storm. It is, as you observed, humbling to witness that "nature can destroy us" any time. Glad your family and the campers were safe. I always feel for the wildlife in these times, too.
I had never heard of these microbursts, and appreciated the explanation of why they occur, including your drawing that made it easy to understand. It is indeed disturbing to see yet another effect of climate change (I am being realistic). We think we are so in control of things as humans. So. Wrong.
Again, loved Etymology Monday, and wanted to thank you for highlighting my recent post, Venerable Venery. Life is interesting, frightening, and fascinating all at once, isn't it?
Be well and keep it wryrd! Looking forward to your next post.
Thank you, Kate. I hadn't heard of them either until I started to look into what all these 'tornadoes' could be. I'm not sure why they called them microbursts. Micro doesn't sound all that scary, but damage of up to 4km is pretty significant. I couldn't actually find an example of a macroburst. One of those would be catastrophic!
Yes! Those can just stay out to sea! We also have "straight-line" wind storms in the U.S. and I was curious to see if they are similar (or the same thing perhaps) as microbursts. From this description, they seem to be the same:
Ooohh, new names :) I've just been reading about straight-line storms (Derecho! It sounds so much more intriguing in Spanish). I think we call the equivalent of a derecho here the very exciting term 'dangerous winds', haha. Straight-line windstorms isn't really a term we use, but I guess that's because tornadoes are nowhere near as prevalent here as in the US, so it's of greater benefit for you to differentiate between the two. We've been getting dangerous winds here for a few weeks now (although today is just breezy and sunny and pretty lovely). They have caused a lot of general damage. One person sadly died about 100km north of here. Just reading about derechos and microbursts/macrobursts now, I think there is one key difference that separates them: downbursts are short and only last a few minutes whereas derechos appear to be capable of lasting a lot longer. This is all really interesting. I've now got an itch to learn about all the different types of storms out there, haha.
Sorry to hear about the loss of life. I'm intrigued by the differences in these storms, too. I'm surprised that Australia doesn't generally experience tornadoes; such a huge area of land, so now I'm curious to read more on that. Do you get hurricanes? We seem to specialize in them, unfortunately.
Oh yes, we get big cyclones up north. It's the southern hemisphere equivalent of a hurricane, except ours spin clockwise and yours spin anticlockwise. And typhoons are somewhere in the middle. I'm too far south and inland to experience cyclones though. We get what we call Willy Willies in Australia (they look like little tornadoes, but they're formed very differently and aren't that strong. They're more like little twisty dust storms). And yeah, not many tornadoes. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of the way the jet streams move here. Although every now and again we get awesome waterspouts, but nothing that causes damage.
Now it's my turn to ooh and ahhh over terms! I have heard cyclone used interchangeably with tornado, but it's uncommon. I did some reading on cyclones, tornadoes, and typhoons to get a grip on the differences, and I would need notes if they were on an exam. Interesting are the geographical and oceanic associations. And I don't think I'd heard the term waterspout except as a description of something at a theme park, so that was fascinating to learn about, too. You and I have had this mini meteorological symposium! What fun. Oh, Willy Willies: first, that's a fantastic name. Second, my guess was right. They are what we call dust devils. This article gets very nerdily into sediment, so I stopped after the Abstract. I am comforted to know, however, that there exists such a publication as "The Journal of Arid Environments," as I will sleep better knowing someone is looking into these things. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014019630700078X#:~:text=Willy%2Dwillies%20(dust%20devils),transport%20role%20in%20the%20landscape.
I've enjoyed this mini symposium, or should I say, microburst! This world is full of amazing things, isn't it. We sometimes use the term dust devil too for the same thing. I think Willy Willy may be taken from a First Nation's language. If I remember correctly, an evil spirit could get into you if you were touched by a Willy.
Yikes! So windy here too but not that level of crazy. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Gillian. Thankfully, the winds have now calmed down to their normal seasonal change blusters.
Loved reading this Ali. And your drawing of a microburst smashing to the ground.
Thank you, Kate. And thank you for the restack. It sure is crazy weather we've been experiencing. Here in the High Country, we had an unusually cool wet summer followed by an autumn drought, then a colder than normal start to winter, a poor snow season and an early, and very windy, spring.
I'm sorry for your first hand experience with this unusual violent storm, but your description and information was informative and interesting. Such odd and different experiences all across the globe.
Thank you, Leslie. Thankfully, our house is built well and we felt safe inside, although the clean-up of the garden took a bit of work. There are some remarkable weather events around the world. We live in a fascinating place :)
*Sighs* So lovely!
Kate is indeed lovely :)
Thanks so much for the shout out Alia - I really appreciate it!! Love the term “microbursts” - weirdly, I think it perfectly describes my approach to poetry 😂
Hi Alia, I am sorry to hear you experienced such a sudden, violent storm. It is, as you observed, humbling to witness that "nature can destroy us" any time. Glad your family and the campers were safe. I always feel for the wildlife in these times, too.
I had never heard of these microbursts, and appreciated the explanation of why they occur, including your drawing that made it easy to understand. It is indeed disturbing to see yet another effect of climate change (I am being realistic). We think we are so in control of things as humans. So. Wrong.
Again, loved Etymology Monday, and wanted to thank you for highlighting my recent post, Venerable Venery. Life is interesting, frightening, and fascinating all at once, isn't it?
Be well and keep it wryrd! Looking forward to your next post.
Thank you, Kate. I hadn't heard of them either until I started to look into what all these 'tornadoes' could be. I'm not sure why they called them microbursts. Micro doesn't sound all that scary, but damage of up to 4km is pretty significant. I couldn't actually find an example of a macroburst. One of those would be catastrophic!
Yes! Those can just stay out to sea! We also have "straight-line" wind storms in the U.S. and I was curious to see if they are similar (or the same thing perhaps) as microbursts. From this description, they seem to be the same:
https://www.weather.gov/safety/wind-thunderstorms-derecho#:~:text=Straight%20line%20winds%20are%20thunderstorm,being%20dragged%20down%20by%20precipitation.
We also had a derecho in May that went about 400 miles, from Texas to Louisiana. Maybe that is a macroburst? Here is a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Houston_derecho
Ooohh, new names :) I've just been reading about straight-line storms (Derecho! It sounds so much more intriguing in Spanish). I think we call the equivalent of a derecho here the very exciting term 'dangerous winds', haha. Straight-line windstorms isn't really a term we use, but I guess that's because tornadoes are nowhere near as prevalent here as in the US, so it's of greater benefit for you to differentiate between the two. We've been getting dangerous winds here for a few weeks now (although today is just breezy and sunny and pretty lovely). They have caused a lot of general damage. One person sadly died about 100km north of here. Just reading about derechos and microbursts/macrobursts now, I think there is one key difference that separates them: downbursts are short and only last a few minutes whereas derechos appear to be capable of lasting a lot longer. This is all really interesting. I've now got an itch to learn about all the different types of storms out there, haha.
Sorry to hear about the loss of life. I'm intrigued by the differences in these storms, too. I'm surprised that Australia doesn't generally experience tornadoes; such a huge area of land, so now I'm curious to read more on that. Do you get hurricanes? We seem to specialize in them, unfortunately.
Oh yes, we get big cyclones up north. It's the southern hemisphere equivalent of a hurricane, except ours spin clockwise and yours spin anticlockwise. And typhoons are somewhere in the middle. I'm too far south and inland to experience cyclones though. We get what we call Willy Willies in Australia (they look like little tornadoes, but they're formed very differently and aren't that strong. They're more like little twisty dust storms). And yeah, not many tornadoes. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of the way the jet streams move here. Although every now and again we get awesome waterspouts, but nothing that causes damage.
Now it's my turn to ooh and ahhh over terms! I have heard cyclone used interchangeably with tornado, but it's uncommon. I did some reading on cyclones, tornadoes, and typhoons to get a grip on the differences, and I would need notes if they were on an exam. Interesting are the geographical and oceanic associations. And I don't think I'd heard the term waterspout except as a description of something at a theme park, so that was fascinating to learn about, too. You and I have had this mini meteorological symposium! What fun. Oh, Willy Willies: first, that's a fantastic name. Second, my guess was right. They are what we call dust devils. This article gets very nerdily into sediment, so I stopped after the Abstract. I am comforted to know, however, that there exists such a publication as "The Journal of Arid Environments," as I will sleep better knowing someone is looking into these things. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014019630700078X#:~:text=Willy%2Dwillies%20(dust%20devils),transport%20role%20in%20the%20landscape.
I've enjoyed this mini symposium, or should I say, microburst! This world is full of amazing things, isn't it. We sometimes use the term dust devil too for the same thing. I think Willy Willy may be taken from a First Nation's language. If I remember correctly, an evil spirit could get into you if you were touched by a Willy.