Weather Works: What is a microburst?

A microburst is like a sudden, super-strong wind that comes out of nowhere and hits everything around it, just like when you blow hard on a pile of leaves and they all fly up at once.

Imagine you're playing with your toy cars in the driveway. Suddenly, a gust of wind knocks them all over, fast and furious! That’s kind of what happens during a microburst.

A microburst starts high in the sky when a big cloud, called a cumulonimbus, gets really heavy with rain or ice. This makes the air inside the cloud go down, like water rushing out of a hose. When that cold, fast air hits the ground, it spreads out quickly and strongly, just like when you let go of a balloon that’s been blowing up for a while.

When a microburst hits the ground, it can make trees sway like they're dancing, blow leaves into the air, and even cause small storms in places like airports or parks. It's like when you jump off a swing, all of a sudden, everything around you feels the rush!