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WATCH: Microburst timelapse

Posted at 4:58 PM, Aug 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-18 20:14:57-04
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - A great timelapse video was shot by KGUN viewer Douglas Groenhoff.
 
The timelapse is of the micro burst that hit Oro Valley on Tuesday.
 
The incident can be described as a wet microburst, meaning wind gusts up to 70 mph or more accompanied by heavy rain.
 
It occurs when a cloud towers or grows vertically very quickly.
 
The top of the cloud becomes super cold and the air very heavy and dense.
 
When it can no longer stay aloft, it collapses to the ground at a high rate of speed. in this case, with heavy rain.
 
It's like a rain bomb.
 
The 'rain bomb' is what you see at the very end here with the wall of water dropping to the surface.
 
Although the video doesn't show the ground very well, that 'rain bomb' hits the ground and spreads out in all directions often times doing damage similar to what a tornado might do, but in a very concentrated area about one to five miles in diameter.