Are microbursts rare?

Question

Every time we have tornado sirens in Missouri- and damage....the city always ends up blaming the damage on microbursts...but my sister says they might be rare?? This happens atleast 3 times a year where I live- are microbursts that common?

Answer 1

No, they're not that rare, but most thunderstorms don't produce damaging microbursts. Particularly strong ones can occur if the air near the ground is relatively dry, because evaporation of the rain cools the air and makes the downdraft stronger.

Answer 2

Microbursts are not uncommon at all.

Infact almost every convective thunderstorm will produce a microburst bt the intensity will vary.

Microbursts are strong winds concentrated in an area less than 4 km in diameter, beneath a convective downdraft, usually associated with a cumulonimbus cloud. The column then splashes onto the ground creating winds outwards of up to 70 m/s. Microbursts are either dry (i.e. little or no rain reaches the ground) or wet (usually within a downpour). The radial pattern means winds of various directions within a small area, and hence considerable wind shear near the ground, for up to ten minutes.

Microbursts are found usualy during the dieing stage of a thunderstorm.

More on Microbursts

http://www.das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/note...

http://www-frd.fsl.noaa.gov/mab/microbur...

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides...

Answer 3

nanobursts are the rarest!

Answer 4

Some ppl incorrectly think microburst's are tornado's in the sense that they do a lot of damage.  I think it really depends on the area you live in and the storm other factors on how rare they will be.  I have lived in East Tennessee for 8 years and only have heard of i guess 3 or 4 in my area.

I know it don't really answer the question but seeing as the other answers are much better..lol

Answer 5

They are rare in the sense that tornadoes are rare.  Both have in common cold air at high altitudes sinking quickly and warm air at low altitudes rising quickly.  To develop a tornado, there also must be certain wind shears in the atmosphere to start rotation.  So if tornado development is likely, the potential for a microburst is also likely.