Hail fell in Marion County for seven solid minutes, but that wasn’t the most remarkable feature of the storms that erupted just north of Wichita Tuesday night.
What had people buzzing was the microburst that flattened four semi-trailer trucks on I-135, damaged dozens of cars and dropped so much hail north of Park City that it looked like it snowed. Authorities were debating about calling out snow plow trucks before sheriff’s deputies shoveled the road clear.
Microbursts happen when air races down to the surface from high up in a thunderstorm. The air flattens out as it reaches the ground, becoming winds that can easily top 100 miles an hour. The microbursts can happen when a thunderstorm is falling apart and the rain and winds collapse toward the surface.
Or they can occur when so much hail is falling that the stones rapidly cool the air beneath the thunderstorm. That temperature change prompts the air to drop.
The difference between a microburst and a downburst is the size of the downdraft. If it’s less than 1.5 miles, it’s a microburst. If it’s larger than that, it’s a downburst.
As those caught in the storm can attest, air dropping that fast can do plenty of damage.