Over the weekend the town of Leamington Ontario was hit by a powerful storm which damaged buildings, toppled trees and left over 4000 residents without power. Earlier today, Environment Canada confirmed that some of the damage was caused by an F1 tornado. Most of us are pretty familiar with the kind of damage a tornado can leave in its wake. We see it in newspapers, on the news and in the movies (I personally love "Twister" by the way). What downed many of the trees in Leamington however was not a tornado but something many folks are completely unfamiliar with...a downburst.
A tornado, due to its turbulent nature, leaves a chaotic mess behind as it spins through a city or town. Debris is picked up by the vortex and thrown around in a seemingly random pattern. A downburst is very different. From the gound, downbursts seem to push everything over in generally the same direction, which is why many of the trees in Leamington were toppled to the east. Imagine a sinking column of cold dense air hitting the ground as it falls from the sky above. Once it hits the ground this air rapidly spreads from its point of impact and flows outward as a powerful gust of wind. How powerful? Just ask the folks in Leamington...the amount of debris left by this recent downburst will take weeks to clean up and the damage even longer to repair.
Using a few craft supplies I put together a video to help explain just what a downburst is. I've embedded it below...enjoy!
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