Thursday set a new night time record high of 102°F a few minutes after midnight. 20 minutes earlier it was 85°F. The sudden collapse of a thunderstorm over Wichita delivered this rare event.
Large Thunderstorms feed on great vertical winds, hot air moving up, and near by, usually surrounding it, cold air is moving down. This creates a two way chimney of air, an engine of millions of horsepower in the open. Hot air feeds the updraft off the earths surface and cold air from high altitudes sink feeding the downdrafts. These engines can run for hours but eventually the fuel of air weakens or external winds disturb the chimney and the engine wears out slowly. In a few cases the engine goes terribly wrong, wind shears so great or external pressures cut the engine up and the hot air which naturally rises so eagerly is forced down violently, the chimney reversed. Called a heat burst, it's very rare, and it came with about 15 minutes of violent wind first from one direction then the other. Blew a limb about 15" thick out of the neighbors cottonwood.
Do you now understand my love of the clap of thunder and the flash of lighting? What I enjoy above all is when a fast moving front apporoaches and a dry line immediadely before the front kicks up all of the dust and pollen as it mixes with the coming storm's range - smells exactly like after a steet sweeper goes past.
ReplyDeleteDad had small limbs down from a storm (3 inch and smaller)- my fear is their two massive elms.
Ron
Ron,
ReplyDeleteYea storms are really neat, the bigger the better, so long as I don't get hurt, I guess thats the standard.
Wow! A heat burst like that could cause a woman to think she is starting to get hot flashes. :^)
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