SCARY DOWNBURST OVER IN WARSAW, POLAND! (credit: Szymon Świeży via Meteo Europe)

DISCUSSION: As strong thunderstorms erupted earlier yesterday afternoon across parts of Northwestern to North-Central Europe, some of the storms formed in regions characterized by relatively high convective instability which helped to produce thunderstorms with very strong updrafts.  Along with the presence of very strong vertical updraft velocities, these storms also quickly developed very robust downdrafts. Some storms such as this one observed over in Warsaw, Poland yesterday afternoon produced an atmospheric phenomena which is scientifically referred to as a downburst.  Downbursts typically occur as a consequence of downdrafts associated with intense thunderstorm being enhanced by rain-cooled air which effectively speeds up the rate at which air descends in the region of the thunderstorm's downdraft due to the increased density of the rain-cooled air as compared to the more buoyant surrounding environment.  As a consequence of this denser rain-cooled air descending through the lower/middle parts of the thunderstorm, it races towards the surface quite violently which facilitates strong episodic bursts of strong winds such as that observed in the footage below as captured by Szymon Świeży.  To learn more about other high-impact weather events from across Europe, be sure to click here!