As thunderstorms roiled across the Phoenix landscape on Monday night, this incredible microburst came crashing down from the sky in a blast of rain, hail and wind.
They form within the main downdraft of the storm, and are triggered by two main physical processes — the drag that’s created by falling rain and hail, and evaporation. When water evaporates it cools the air, which makes it more dense and accelerates the descent.
Once they reach the ground, microbursts have been known to produce wind gusts up to 150 mph.
