Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Law Students Blogs -> Objective Justice

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Law Students

: Objective Justice

Heat Burst

By Sean Sirrine

ADVERTISEMENTS

When I read about the "heat burst" that hit Nebraska yesterday, it was the first time I had heard of the phenomenon and thought I'd pass the strangeness along. It seems that these would be especially dangerous in cities like Phoenix.

"Cozad residents woke this morning to a weather phenomenon as a heat burst rolled through town. Temperatures rose 20 degrees in a matter of minutes while winds reached speeds of 75 miles per hour."

This is what Wikipedia has to say about heat bursts:

A heat burst is a rare atmospheric phenomenon characterised by gusty winds and a rapid increase in temperature and decrease in dew point. Heat bursts typically occur during night-time and are associated with decaying thunderstorms. While this phenomenon is not fully understood, it is theorized that the event is caused when rain evaporates (virga) into a parcel of cold dry air high in the atmosphere making the air more dense than its surroundings.[1] The parcel descends rapidly, warming due to compression, overshoots its equilibrium level and reaches the surface, similar to a downburst.[2] Recorded temperatures during heat bursts have reached well above 90 °F (32 °C), sometimes rising by 20 °F (11 °C) or more within only a few minutes. More extreme events have also been documented, where temperatures have been reported to exceed 130 °F (54 °C), although such extreme events have never been officially verified. Heat bursts are also characterised by extremely dry air and are sometimes associated with very strong, even damaging, winds.

The strange thing is that these heat bursts weren't documented until the middle of last century.

Full post as published by Objective Justice on June 27, 2008 (boomark / email).