BOISE, Idaho —
The Boise area experienced a rare ‘heat burst’ early Sunday morning.
Wind speeds over the Boise Airport and the Boise Bench may have exceeded 70 miles per hour around 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning, according to the Boise National Weather Service (NWS).
NWS describes a heat burst as being “caused when a shower or thunderstorm weakens over a layer of dry air.”
As that storm sends out a cooling downdraft into the dry air, the moisture evaporates out of the air mass, making it cooler and denser, resulting in the draft descending at a high rate of speed.
Eventually, the air becomes completely dry, and the air can no longer cool off from evaporation. It begins to heat up as it sinks to the surface and compresses, causing strong winds as it collides with the surface.
NWS said that it is difficult to acquire all the necessary ingredients for a heat burst, making the development and observance of one so rare.
This is a look at the velocity scan from KCBX, the National Weather Service radar site at the Boise Airport. This shows a strong wind gust, in the brighter shades of pink, blowing through Boise. The temperature at the Boise Airport also went from 80 degrees at midnight to 86 degrees within an hour.
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