Microburst, heavy rain and a SPLASH event | Kansas City's storms brought many forms of damage early Wednesday
The Kansas City metro area had a noisy night Tuesday into early Wednesday morning thanks to thunderstorms that produced many different types of damage across the metro.
The National Weather Service says the area saw downburst winds, heavy rain and a SPLASH event. So, what is all of that?
Microburst:
A downburst is a strong, damaging downdraft or push of wind. This was a wind event our area is familiar with, known as a microburst, a type of downburst. With these events, areas see storm damage spreading outward.
Many people see the damage and think the area has been through a tornado, but on closer inspection, trees are spread outward or blown down as opposed to being twisted and snapped.
The damage is the result of heavy, moisture-laden, hail-containing air that accumulates in a cloud before falling to the ground. That air hitting the ground is known as the microburst.
Areas in Kansas City, Kansas, saw damage consistent with this definition. Residents saw trees downed, smaller structures flattened and roofs damaged, or, in some cases, removed.
SPLASH event:
Alongside the downburst, parts of the area saw a SPLASH event. SPLASH is an acronym for storm producing large amounts of small hail. The National Weather Service said these are common in areas with very high moisture. SPLASH events tend to occur with storms that go on to produce downbursts, like in northwest Wyandotte County.
In addition, they can produce enough hail that it would need to be shoveled to be cleared. We saw this plowable hail at the Kansas City Downtown Airport when the storm dropped three inches of hail onto the tarmac at Wheeler Field.
Heavy rain:
Parts of the metro in the core area of the storm, a swath stretching from Leavenworth into Parkville and across to Butler, saw between three to four inches of rain, with some areas seeing 4.7 or 4.8 inches.
That heavy rain meant the area remained under a flash flood warning through around lunchtime.
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