what is downburst – The Time

The sinking of the Bayesian, the sailing ship that sank off the coast of Palermo, was caused by a downburst. This was declared by the deputy prosecutor of Termini Imerese, Raffaele Cammarano, who is in charge of the investigation. But what is it? Paolo Sottocorona now explains it in a video broadcast on the official channels of La7. “A very hot sea provides a lot of energy that explodes giving rise to a waterspout”, he said to clarify what could have triggered the phenomenon at the root of the tragedy of the super sailing boat flying the English flag.

With the downburst, winds can be generated that “rotate up to three or four hundred kilometers per hour, maybe more,” Sottocorona continued. But what happened to the sailing ship, according to the meteorologist, is an exceptional case. “The whirlwind is very violent, but a fifty-meter sailboat is not a small boat.” These violent phenomena, he wanted to point out, “are increasingly common.”

The expert’s analysis also includes one of the most imaginative theories that have emerged in recent days. That the waterspout of the Porticello disaster was generated artificially. “Man has never managed to generate atmospheric phenomena, other than a few lightning strikes. This is because it would require such a quantity of energy that is not available today, I would also say fortunately”, he concluded.