downburstn.
/ˈdaʊnbəːst/, U.S. /ˈdaʊnˌbərst/ Meteorology.
A strong current of air which descends vertically at high velocity from a cumulonimbus cloud and spreads forcefully outwards as it nears the ground, causing severe localized wind shear.Downbursts are often associated with thunderstorms.
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1977 T. T. Fujita & H. R. Byers in Monthly Weather Rev. (U.S.) 105 139/1 To distinguish an extremely intense downdraft from an ordinary one, a new term, ‘downburst’ is introduced. A downburst is a localized, intense downdraft with vertical currents exceeding a downward speed of 12 ft s−1 at 300 ft above the surface.
1992 Transair Pilot Shop June 34/2 Diagrams..trace the development of clouds from fair weather cumulus to giant cumulonimbus and the associated hazards of lightning, hail, downbursts and outflows.
2000 C. D. Whiteman Mountain Meteorol. viii. 118 Strong, localized downdrafts, called downbursts, often occur along the leading edge of a severe thunderstorm.
2012 New Yorker 23 July 23/1 There were a lot of downed trees in the city back then, most of them the victims of the terrible wind ‘downburst’ that crossed Manhattan and the Bronx in August of 2009.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1977