Downbursts

A thorough summary of downbursts, their characteristics, and the atmospheric conditions in which they are generated is presented. An explanation of the equation of buoyancy and its inherent deficiency is made. A basic forecasting technique is proposed for wet microburst events, which are particular to the southeast United States. A basic hypothesis regarding the downward transport of higher momentum is established. It is this downward transport, induced by wind shear in the lower layers of the atmosphere, which is thought to be the primary forcing mechanism in the case of the wet microburst. A case study is presented which describes an equation developed for using low-level wind shear and average low-level velocity to calculate the maximum potential downburst velocity. 1