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Updrafts and downdrafts, along with wind shear in general, are a major contributor to airplane crashes during takeoff and landing in a thunderstorm. Extreme cases, known as downbursts and microbursts, can be deadly and difficult to predict or observe.
The formation of multicellular thunderstorms imply that the updraft in the mother thunderstorm is offset from its downdraft. New cells usually form in the upwind (usually western or southwestern) part of the storm where the downdrafts of the mature cells meet the environmental wind, lifting air parcels and triggering new convection.
This high-pressure area is formed due to strong descending motion behind the squall line, and could come in the form of a downburst. [2] Outflow boundary that preceded a strong thunderstorm in Oklahoma. The "edge" of the outflow boundary can often be detected by Doppler radar (especially in clear air mode).
The resulting thunderstorms are “very dangerous” for air travel, Struckmann said. This is due to the “severe turbulence caused by updrafts, downdrafts, winds and hail.”
Most thunderstorm-related crashes occur due to a stall close to the ground when the pilot gets caught by surprise by a thunderstorm-induced wind shift. Moreover, aircraft damage caused by thunderstorms is rarely in the form of structural failure due to turbulence but is typically less severe and the consequence of secondary effects of ...
Rear-flank downdrafts have a well-established association with hook echoes. [3] [4] Firstly, the initial rear flank downdraft is air from aloft transported down to the surface by colliding and mixing with the storm. [2] Secondly, hook echoes form through advection of precipitation from the rear of the main echo around the region of strong ...
One can distinguish three stages in the evolution of a thunderstorm cell: [2] [3] formation: the upward current of the cell intensifies and allows the condensation of water vapor from the rising air parcel. This forms a cumulus congestus, then a cumulonimbus when ice crystals form at its apex which spreads horizontally in contact with the ...
The updrafts and downdrafts within cumulonimbus clouds cause water molecules to freeze and solidify, creating hailstones and other forms of solid precipitation. [60] Due to their larger density, these hailstones become heavy enough to overcome the density of the cloud and fall towards the ground.