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Meteorologist: Microburst, Not Tornado Caused Damage in York

The National Weather Service says that it was a microburst, not a tornado, that caused some significant damage in and around the town of York in far southwestern Maine early yesterday evening.

Meteorologist John Cannon of the National Weather Service office in Gray says a survey team determined that the microburst occurred at about 5:15 yesterday afternoon, with estimated maximum winds of from 70 to 80 miles per hour.

Cannon says in a microburst, winds fan out near the surface in a straight line rather than rotating, as they do in a tornado.

"A microburst is usually defined by the size of the area that it affects," Cannon says. "As far as time goes, it can be just a few seconds to several minutes that you could have intense winds with a microburst."

Cannon says a survey will be done tomorrow in Somerset County near Madison and points east. He says a tornado is suspected to have occurred there but that hasn't yet been confirmed.

Ed Morin
Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.