SEVERE WEATHER
Most of the severe weather is seen in the Phoenix Metro area, occurs durning the Monsoon, usually associated with our summer Thunderstorms, and damage is usually caused by micro bursts--not tornadoes. A "micro burst" is a small area of rapidly descending air beneath a thunderstorm. When the descending air hits the ground, it quickly spreads out in all directions, causing very strong, straight-line winds. These winds are commonly as strong as 40-60 mph but can exceed 100 mph at times. Micro bursts occur over a rather small space-scale, typically the area affected is less than 2.5 miles in diameter.::