A record burst of record and three -digits crossed some of the Texas on Tuesday, but it was not a tornado or a hurricane.
An airport weather station in Midland, Texas, recorded a gust of wind of 111 MPH Tuesday evening – the first three -digit burst in its 94 -year report in the weather editorial team. He broke the previous 97 MPH record set on June 26, 2007.
The culprit? According to the National Weather Service, a “Virga bomb associated with dry microburste”, according to the National Weather Service.
This is the technical way of saying that the atmosphere has just punched.
To explain what a Virga bomb with dry microburstes, we have to zoom in a little. The microburstes fall under the aegis of a phenomenon called rupture strokes, which are strong wind events which develop because of the way in which the air rises and descended in thunderstorms.
The thunderstorms are fed by an upward current of hot air and rising. Finally, part of this air cools, forms precipitation, then a combination of wind and precipitation rushes towards the ground in a descending current.
A drop takes what a descending current typical of the product and launches it to the extreme.
Imagine yourself by pouring a bucket full of water directly on the ground: it strikes hard and splashes from the center.
The ruptures do this exactly, but with powerful winds which then move outside at high speed. Strong winds generally last last 5 to 10 minutes, but can exceed 100 MPH in the most extreme cases. Microburstes are gusts that measure less than 2.5 miles wide.
The gusts are generally humid – precipitation and the wind reach the soil – either dry – just the wind reaches the ground. Texas microburste was dry.
As for the “Virga Bomb” part of the NWS report – it's just a hard -hitting way to say that it was an impressive dry microscope. Virga is a precipitation that falls from the clouds but evaporates before reaching the ground.
Gusts occur quite frequently in powerful thunderstorms, but one of this extreme is rare. The ruptures become more powerful when they move through a drier layer of air near the ground, like Tuesday. The dry air evaporates the precipitation during the downward battle at the last second, which cools in the surrounding air and makes it heavier. The heavier air affects the stronger soil, producing stronger winds.
The 111 MPH on Tuesday, grabs this Virga bomb would have been more comfortable in a hurricane than a random thunderstorm. Category 2 hurricanes, for example, have supported winds from 96 to 110 mph but often produce stronger gusts than this beach.
The strongest gust of wind ever recorded in Texas is held 180 mph And was produced by Hurricane Celia in August 1970, according to the State Climatology Office.
The Hurricane Raffales of the Hurricane of the Ferocious Virga bomb did not damage Midland airport, but broke several power posts and overturned a semi-camion in Odessa nearby, according to the NWS.
Other thunderstorms in the same area have also produced strong winds that have accelerated dangerous dust storms.
CNN meteorologist, Monica Garrett, contributed to this report.
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