earth science

List of downbursts

List of downbursts is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of downbursts rather than just read about it. In short: This is a list of notable downbursts (microbursts or macrobursts). List Before 1900 August 1, 1674 - An extraordinarily extreme downburst associated with a bow echo led to the partial collapse of a well-built cathedral from Utrecht, Netherlands.

Key takeaways

List of downbursts belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of downbursts to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of downbursts from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

This is a list of notable downbursts (microbursts or macrobursts).

List

Before 1900 August 1, 1674 - An extraordinarily extreme downburst associated with a bow echo led to the partial collapse of a well-built cathedral from Utrecht, Netherlands. Many limestone homes were leveled to the ground and many churches were destroyed across the country. Peak wind gusts were estimated to have reached (~325 km/h; ~200 mph) at the Utrecht cathedral. July 13, 1890 – A microburst capsized the vessel Sea Wing on Lake Pepin between Wisconsin and Minnesota, killing 98 people.

1960s A particularly violent microburst is a possible alternative explanation to the 1961 sinking of the American school brigantine Albatross. The ship's captain Dr. Christopher Sheldon claimed that the ship was hit by a white squall on the voyage from Progreso, Yucatán, to Nassau in the Bahamas.

1980s-1990s 1980–1995 – FAA-supported investigations into microburst morphology and microburst detection and warning systems. Principals: Ted Fujita, U. Chicago, John McCarthy and James Wilson, NCAR, J. Evans and Marilyn M. Wolfson, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, R Bowles and F Proctor, NASA). Hundreds of microbursts were detected and studied, many by dual Doppler weather radar analysis. Several had intensities in excess of 80 knots (92 mph; 150 km/h). August 1, 1983 – The strongest microburst recorded at an airport was observed at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, near Washington, DC. The wind speeds may have exceeded 150 mph (240 km/h) in this microburst. The peak gust was recorded at 2:11 PM –-7 minutes after Air Force One, with the President on board, landed on the same runway. June 11, 1984 - Shortly before midnight, a severe thunderstorm produced an exceptionally severe downburst near Rowena, South Dakota. Wind gusts were estimated at 160 mph (257 km/h) by Ted Fujita. August 2, 1985 - Delta Flight 191 encountered a microburst while attempting to land at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and subsequently crashed, killing 136 passengers and crew on board the aircraft and one person on the ground. May 1986 – A microburst squall with wind speeds of 80 mph (130 km/h) is responsible for capsizing and sinking the Pride of Baltimore in the Caribbean Sea, about 250 mi (400 km) north of Puerto Rico. The ship took the lives of her captain and three of her other 11 crew members. May 13, 1989 — A microburst damaged around 200 helicopters and other aircraft at Fort Hood, Texas, at an estimated cost of $600 million, despite the aircraft being secured for storm weather. July 8, 1989 – Denver Stapleton International Airport. After being alerted by LLWAS of an imminent encounter with a 95 kn (109 mph; 176 km/h) microburst, Captain Craig Levine initiated a missed approach, taking his Boeing 737 to full takeoff power, climbing 400 ft (120 m) and adding 40 kn (46 mph; 74 km/h) of airspeed. Encountering the microburst at full takeoff power, they lost 400 ft (120 m) of altitude and lost 50 kn (58 mph; 93 km/h) of airspeed in about one-half of a minute. This event is a documented "save" of an airplane by a windshear alert system. August 7, 1994 – Severe thunderstorms produce numerous reports of damaging winds (and large hail) across central, southern, and southeastern Oklahoma. The worst damage occurs in Prague, where estimated winds of 90 mph (140 km/h) produced widespread damage across town, downed the steeple of a church, partially unroofed the high school, and damaged to destroyed mobile homes. August 17, 1994 – A series of extreme downbursts are produced by a southward moving long-lived supercell thunderstorm across south-central Kansas and western Oklahoma, whereafter new severe storms fire in western Oklahoma and drop into north Texas. Severe damage occurs across a long and narrow swath with numerous reports of 80–100 mph (130–160 km/h) winds and a then record gust of 113 mph (182 km/h) is measured at the Lahoma Oklahoma Mesonet site. At least two tornadoes and windblown hail the size of softballs and footballs also occur. July 15, 1995 – A series of microbursts hit northern and eastern New York State, killing 5 people, injuring 11, and causing nearly a half billion dollars in damages. It was the second derecho of a series during mid-July. The storms severely damaged 125,000 acres (51,000 ha; 195 sq mi; 510 km2) of forest in the Adirondack Park, necessitating the helicopter rescue of 31 hikers/backpackers stranded in the backcountry due to blocked trails. October 20, 1995 – A morning downburst accompanied by hail caused widespread damage, 35 injuries and 1 death in Piracicaba, Brazil, with wind gusts up to 78 mph (126 km/h). May 21, 1996 – A microburst caused extensive damage and 60 injuries in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, where winds were clocked at 104 mph (167 km/h). Brockton, Whitman, and Abington were the hardest hit towns. On August 14, 1996 a severe thunderstorm and its accompanying dry microburst hit the northwest portion of the Phoenix metropolitan area, ripping off tile roofs and causing $160 million in damage. An Arizona-record wind gust of 115 mph (185 km/h) was recorded at the Deer Valley Airport. A few locations had to go without power for several days. In the early hours of September 7, 1998, a microburst hit the city of Syracuse, New York. Three people were killed and the area suffered $130 million in damages.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of downbursts

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of downbursts claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of downbursts before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of downbursts ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of downbursts

In research: List of downbursts appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of downbursts in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of downbursts is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Severe weather and convection, Storms, Weather-related lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of downbursts outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of downbursts in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of downbursts means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of downbursts out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of downbursts in simple terms?

This is a list of notable downbursts (microbursts or macrobursts). List Before 1900 August 1, 1674 - An extraordinarily extreme downburst associated with a bow echo led to the partial collapse of a well-built cathedral from Utrecht, Netherlands.

Why does List of downbursts matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of downbursts?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of downbursts.