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Macroburst confirmed in Greater Cleveland, but what exactly is that?

The macroburst event of Aug. 6 had a path of damage that stretched for 15 miles, with communities like Euclid, Mentor, and Chester Township affected.

CLEVELAND — In addition to four confirmed tornados, the National Weather Service in Cleveland has confirmed a macroburst from Tuesday’s storms. That’s not necessarily a term we hear often, so what does it mean?

You've probably heard the term "microburst" when it comes to severe storms. A "macroburst" is basically the same thing, but on a larger scale.

A microburst generally refers to a very concentrated burst of wind from the downdraft of a storm that causes damage extending less than 2 1/2 miles. A macroburst is a burst of wind that causes damage extending more than 2 1/2 miles and lasting for at least 5 to 20 minutes. We easily exceeded both of those with Tuesday's burst that stretched into three different counties.

Credit: 3News
What's A Macroburst

The macroburst event of Aug. 6 had a path of damage that stretched for 15 miles. The damage began near the lakeshore and then stretched inland from there. Damage from this macroburst was confirmed in eastern Cuyahoga County (the city of Cleveland was NOT included), western Lake County, and northwest Geauga County. This portion of the storm had estimated peak winds at 90 mph and caused its damage between 4:20 and 4:50 p.m., essentially moving southeast across the damaged areas. 

Credit: 3News
Confirmed macroburst

It is very important to note that both microbursts and macrobursts cause straight-line wind damage, meaning the damage is different from how the results of a tornado present. With this, trees, poles, crops, and other things tend to fall in the same direction because the wind is all pushing the same way. It gives the appearance of everything falling in a straight line, hence "straight-line wind damage."

The term "derecho" might also be coming to mind. A derecho comes together a little differently than these burst events we're talking about. It also covers a MUCH larger area, as the threshold for something to be considered a derecho is a swath of straight line wind damage that covers over 240 miles.

Thankfully, our damage paths were not even close to that.

It is also important to note that there was a confirmed EF-1 tornado within the storms that caused this damage. That tornado lasted for approximately 7 minutes and damage stretched 4.79 miles with peak winds at 100 mph, starting in southern Lake County and moving into northern Geauga County.

Credit: 3News

Tornado damage presents differently than straight-line wind damage. Because of the rotation associated with a tornado, things fall in different directions, rather than all in the same direction. 

Credit: 3News
Tornado from Southern Lake County to Northern Geauga County

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