On virgae

Today's forecast called for virga, which is rain that changes from liquid to vapor as it falls. That brought to mind a wiki-passage that reads: "In some instances, these pockets of colder air can descend rapidly, creating a dry microburst which can be extremely hazardous to aviation."

That brought to mind last night's re-airing of the "Delta 191 Crash" show on the The Weather Channel. As you'll recall, a microburst was a contributing factor to that crash at DFW in 1985.

So I called up the good folks at the NWS. Basically, they said, virga is "rarely" an indicator of a microburst. Today's case was merely one of rain that evaporated before it hit the ground.

In contrast, "That was a full blown thunderstorm," Dan Huckaby said of the conditions at DFW on the day of the crash.

So there you go.

(If you caught the show, you saw our local tornado guru Alan Moller talking about microbursts, its affects on planes trying to land and the improved use of Doppler radar to give pilots better forewarning.)

{Photo credit on file is Joe Giron}

- Bryon Okada

Comments

[Jessica]

Wow. Thanks for that info. I didn't thought about that microburst could really get a plane crash. :( See how such meteorological phenomena could really do to people...

Very interesting post... :)