COLUMBIA, S.C. — Winds of 60 plus miles per hour moved through the Midlands Sunday as a cold front pushed south and brought severe storms with it. These winds caused trees to fall and minor damage across some people's properties.
These winds, called straight line winds, can be just as dangerous as other types of severe weather.
To better understand these winds, let’s take a look inside the storm. Thunderstorms are made up of updrafts of air and downdrafts of air.
The updrafts provide the storm with warm, moist air, while the downdrafts are associated with precipitation and colder air exiting the system.
As these downdrafts move toward the ground, they have no where to go and are forced out along the ground.
When these winds are 58 miles per hour or greater, they are considered severe.
Some of the maximum recorded wind gusts came from Sumter and Richland counties. Shaw Air Force Base recorded a maximum wind gust of 63 miles per hour, while a 58 mile per hour gust was recorded in Columbia.
Sometimes straight line winds can be confused with tornadoes, but there are differences between the two.
First, there is a very different radar signature between the two. With tornadoes, there is typically a velocity couplet, showing rotation in the storm. With straight line winds, there is no rotation present.
Another difference between tornadoes and straight line winds is with their damage patterns. With straight line winds, damage patterns will all be facing the same way. However, with tornado damage, trees and other debris will be blown in multiple directions from the spinning wind.