Nature has a way of being a little camera shy, making it difficult to capture those awesome rare moments that boggle the mind. However, a farmer got lucky in Australia when he captured a rare wet microburst in his field. This “rain bomb” can be hard to spot, but clearly the Aussie had his camera ready when he spotted the dropping clouds in the heavy storm. It’s a mini-miracle the images were captured so well. (1)

What Is A Rain Bomb?

There are actually two types of microbursts, dry microbursts, and wet microbursts. Wet microbursts are also referred to as rain bombs because of their shape and the impact created when they fall from the sky. Microbursts literally fall like a bomb in a mass of raindrop and hail that hits the earth with some force. They are created when hot, dry air contacts heavy rain clouds during a thunderstorm. As the raindrops and/or hail form, they become suspended in an updraft until they eventually fall en masse. Queensland farmer, Peter Thompson captured the full force of the microburst as it hit the ground in his photos. (1, 2)

Phoenix Rain Bomb

A few years back, an Arizona storm chaser was able to video some images of the interesting phenomenon. Captured by Bryan Snider, he was able to create a time-lapse of the event to show how dramatic a rain bomb is at it hits the ground. The full-time videographer was thrilled by his video. (3)

“While I have seen many microbursts, I’ve never seen one that captured this event so vividly especially after it hit the ground,” he says. “I honestly had no idea how I captured it in the way I did – when I first played back the time-lapse, I nearly fell out of my chair.” (3)

What Causes A Rain Bomb?

For the perfect conditions for a rain bomb to form, the downdraft needs a thunderstorm to create the column of sinking air. The column averages under 2.5 miles in diameter and rain bombs can actually be quite dangerous when they hit the ground. (2)

As the thunderstorm develops, sometimes an updraft suspends the water droplets and/or hailstones in large amounts. This collection sits in the upper part of the storm and as the air cools, it sinks causing a downdraft. When the updraft fails and can’t hold the rain, the rain bomb forms, hitting the ground suddenly causing extremely high winds and often damage at the site of impact. (2)

Rain Bomb Damage

As amazing as these weather phenomena are, it is also important to remember these suckers are dangerous. Wind speeds can reach over 100 mph, which I might point out is the same as an EF-1 tornado! This means a rain bomb has the potential to cause major damage to buildings, structures and trees. (2)

Rain Bomb A Storm Catcher’s Dream

As for Bryan, his dedication to chasing storms and exploring the magnificence of Arizona’s beauty paid off big time. “Since 2010, I’ve covered tens of thousands of miles all over Arizona in attempt to capture what I call Arizona’s incredible weather,” says Bryan. “I couldn’t believe what I caught – I knew at that point that this time-lapse would probably be the most special thing I’ve ever captured.” (3)