|
|
The series Rainshaft1-21.jpg shows a closely limited zone below a relatively small Cumulus congestus which produces strong precipitation. At some pictures one can see how the sea surface changes due to impinging precipitation. The extension of the series (or the large number of repeating pictures) indicates how long the cloud rained out of a single part. The event lasted all in all approximately for half an hour. During this time the cloud was nearly stationary. That means that it only moved slowly up and down in a region of around 4 km in front of the beach of Luqillo. |
Since the cloud base was very closely above the sea surface and
no outflow to the side could be noticed on the water surface, the
event could be classified as a "micro-burst" even though
there were strong down-winds inside the rain zone. Therefore the
expression "rainshaft" seems to be better suited. The
intense rainbows which could be observed at the same place one day
later during a similar event are described in Rainbow
II . |
with a diameter of around 100 m. They were caused by a full-grown
Cumulonimbus cloud. |