Great accounts, I was on the edge of my chair, had I some popcorn it would've been like the cinema.
Microbursts in the tropics do appear less common, it has been postulated that the melting of hail, especially in the last 1,000 meters, is required to initialize the downdraft in a wet microburst. Negative buoyancy (dry/ cold air) is responsible for dry microburst formation, this lack of cold dry air and hail melting/ subliming well above 1,000 meters may account for a reduction in probability in the tropics. Haven't found any new data, but some incidents/ accidents from the tropics include: Pago Pago, Mexico City, Kano, Bombay, Doha, Bahrain, Naha, and not a small one in Chihuahua.
Last edited by '%MAC'; 6th May 2002 at 03:32.