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The crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 191 (DFW, August 2, 1985) was attributed to this type of weather event. This was the first I had heard the term 'microburst' and I will never forget it, as a neighbor down the street was on that flight, and perished.

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I used to see them on occasion in Colorado. They're a serious hazard to aircraft. I wasn't aware of what they were until one crashed a plane in Denver, CO. in the early 1990s.

JimG Level 8 Mar 3, 2020
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I went to the river about six years ago. The temp was about 65f. Within several minutes the temp soared to 93 F and I was in trouble. I went through heart surgery and I couldn't get up the hill to my truck. So I tried to call 911 and dropped my phone in the river. When I tried to grab it, I fell it.
Now, my phone was dead, I can see my truck, but I can't climb the hill with my gear. And I smacked my leg hard and was getting faint.
So, I left it all there and got home. As I was leaving, I watched the temp in the truck drop back to 65 within a couple miles.
I almost bought the farm.
They call this the Chinook winds here. The moisture and warm clouds drop rain in the mountains and comes back with acceleration and speed down the mountain.

I fly paragliders and you're taught that if you see a cloud dump rain like that anywhere within sight (that's many miles away) then get out of the sky fast or prepare for shit to hit the fan. They can trigger 40+ mph gust fronts that'll can knock you out of the sky with turbulence or send you hurtling miles off course at high speed. A thundercloud gust front can hit you from tens of miles away. And if you happen to be underneath a cloud when that happens - all bets are off because microbusts like that have knocked planes with engines out of the sky many a time.

The other amazing things about convective cloud is the updrafts before it starts dumping rain can be thousands of feet per minute. I'll do some math for you - 2000 feet per minute is 22 mph. People encountering 3000 fpm or more is not unheard off and they find themselves hurtling up just from rising air at 30 mph - there's a reason pilots call it "cloud suck". One was sucked all the way to 32,000' altitude at the top of a thunderstorm and was very very lucky to survive after being pelted by hail, encrusted with ice, and lapsed into unconsciousness from lack of oxygen. Ergo clouds are something to marvel at but be very cautious of. But hey when you can get to float at the boundaries of blue sky and friendly fluffy clouds - magical!

Dude! You need to stay in more.

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Cool!

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