Windshear Weather

Last month, Handling Windshear, described how to recognize, avoid and, handle an encounter with windshear. The focus of that article was the practical side of piloting but we necessarily touched on the basics of the weather behind thunderstorms, microbursts and windshear. Now its time to dig deeper into that meteorology.

Tim Vasquez

Friday, May 05, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Windshear is a dangerous change in wind speed or direction through a vertical layer, posing risks of unexpected airspeed loss, turbulence, and loss of control, particularly during critical flight phases.
It commonly occurs in two main forms: convective windshear, originating from thunderstorms (including downbursts and microbursts), and non-convective windshear, often associated with atmospheric inversions, fronts, or low-level jets.
Pilots can identify potential windshear by recognizing meteorological patterns, monitoring radar data (e.g., NEXRAD, TDWR velocity products, VWP), consulting upper-air charts, and reviewing pilot reports (PIREPs).
Staying safe requires avoiding storms, exercising patience, monitoring TAFs and aviationweather.gov forecasts for turbulence, and actively contributing to and checking PIREPs to anticipate hazardous conditions.

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Last month, “Handling Windshear,” described how to recognize, avoid and, handle an encounter with windshear. The focus of that article was the practical side of piloting but we necessarily touched on the basics of the weather behind thunderstorms, microbursts and windshear. Now it’s time to dig deeper into that meteorology.

Why Care?

Windshear was a major research topic in the 1980s when it was responsible for several airline crashes, culminating with the 1985 Delta L-1011 tragedy at DFW Airport. Windshear is now covered heavily in pilot training,.