microburst

[Lori Meyer]

I am trying to find some information about a microburst on May 27, 1996 in Lee's Summit, MO. I know the winds were supposed to have reached 125mph. From the arial photos I have seen it appeared to have a very distinct path. I was under the impression microbursts usually put out an area of destruction more circular in nature. Any ideas on how to find this info? I know a lot of you are quite familiar with looking up historical weather events.

 

[Lori Meyer]

somebody, anybody... bueller, bueller, bueller

 

[Terrence Cook]

Microbursts are quite fascinating, however... rather than being circular I believe that the damage path begins as a small swath that spreads outward in the direction the storm is traveling. The shape of the swath would depend on the storm velocity and the speed of the winds within but would probably resemble a widening tornao path with all the destruction pointing in one direction similar to straight-line winds.

Also I am guessing that the strongest winds/damage would be near the beginning of the microburst and gradually taper off as the winds die down.

Hopefully this helps Lori.

-Terrence

 

[Mark Manchester]

There is some information available in the archives of the KC Star online edition, however this is a subscription service. The local library should have the print editions available.