Mountain Home saw unusual sight during the Boise-area storm. What the heck was it?
As the Boise area experienced sudden storms Tuesday, an unusual wall of clouds was spotted in Mountain Home. But what exactly was it?
Cammie Patch posted photos on Facebook of the weather event that caused her wind gauge to “quit at 50 mph.”
National Weather Service meteorologist Sophia Adams said the strange sight was caused by an outflow boundary, essentially a line of high winds moving ahead of a strong thunderstorm.
“That’s more of like a dust storm along with an outflow boundary and we typically see those along squall lines, like a really strong line of thunderstorms,” Adams said of Patch’s photo. “And those outflow boundaries are essentially the winds that are created from cooler air moving into a region.”
While some on social media said they thought it could be a microburst, Adams clarified that no microburst hit the area. A microburst is a strong downdraft of air quickly sinking within a thunderstorm, according to the National Weather Service. This potentially life-threatening weather event is extremely rare and no more than 2.5 miles in diameter, according to the NWS website.
Adams said that the weather seen in Mountain Home was similar to the process of a microburst. However, a microburst is only one storm cell and lasts for a shorter amount of time.
“It’s not like that line of thunderstorms,” Adams said.
The National Weather Service tracked Tuesday’s Mountain Home outflow boundary for two to three hours.
Idaho Statesman reporter Shaun Goodwin contributed to this report.
