Intense Surface Winds from Gravity Wave Breaking in Simulations of a Destructive Macroburst


Shortly after 0600 UTC (midnight MDT) 9 June 2020, a convective line produced severe winds across parts of northeast Colorado that caused extensive damage, especially in the town of Akron. High-resolution observations showed gusts exceeding 50 m s−1, accompanied by extremely large pressure fluctuations, including a 5-hPa pressure surge in 19 s immediately following the strongest winds and a 15-hPa pressure drop in the following 3 min. Numerical simulations of this event (using the WRF model) and with horizontally homogeneous initial conditions (using Cloud Model 1) reveal that the severe winds in this event were associated with gravity wave dynamics. In a very stable post-frontal environment, elevated convection initiated and led to a long-lived gravity wave. Strong low-level vertical wind shear supported the amplification and eventual breaking of this wave, resulting in at least two sequential strong downbursts. This wave-breaking mechanism is different from the usual downburst mechanism associated with negative buoyancy resulting from latent cooling. The model output reproduces key features of the high-resolution observations, including similar convective structures, large temperature and pressure fluctuations, and intense near-surface wind speeds. The findings of this study reveal a series of previously unexplored mesoscale and storm-scale processes that can result in destructive winds.