Ever heard of a heat burst? They're rare, but from time to time they do happen...and sometimes they happen not too far away from the Quad Cities! Take Tuesday morning for example - several towns in Nebraska went from the low 70s early this morning all the way up to near 100° by 7/8am!
So what the heck happened? When a decaying t-storm drops some rain into a dry layer of air the rain evaporates as it falls...this evaporation cools the air around it which also makes the air more dense than the surrounding air. That more dense air starts falling toward the ground and once all of the precip has evaporated there's no more cooling. At this point in time the descending air starts drying out and WARMING UP! At times the momentum of this falling parcel of air carries it all the way to the ground, leaving plenty of time for it to warm up!
Here's a link to a story from the NWS office in Hastings, NE, with temp spikes included! Can you imagine heading out early in the morning to temps near 100°?
Click Here for story
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