The Telegram channel Nadvorie reported that on the evening of July 13, a wind gust of 34 m/s (122.4 km/h) was recorded at one of the locations in Belarus. According to the Beaufort scale, which measures wind force, this is a hurricane – even stronger than a severe storm, writes the publication "Smartpress".
Such a powerful gust was registered by the meteorological station in Salihorsk around 21:50 on Monday. According to the Beaufort scale, a wind of 32.7 m/s or more is considered a hurricane.
As explained by specialists, such a phenomenon was most likely caused by a moist microburst under a small but very intense thunderstorm core.
Belarus was in a warm, moist, and unstable air mass that evening, and the ICON and ECMWF models showed a high potential for downdrafts: DCAPE was around 800 J/kg. At the same time, the vertical wind shear was weak, so the supercell scenario was considered less likely.
Satellite and radar data confirmed the intensity of the thunderstorm. The cloud top temperature dropped to approximately -55°C, the upper limit of the radar echo reached 13-14 km, and the reflectivity in the compact core was 62 dBZ. This indicates a large amount of water, ice, graupel, and possibly hail inside the cloud.
As the mass of hydrometeors began to descend, the fall of particles, evaporation of rain, melting of hail, and sublimation of ice intensified the downdraft, which, near the ground, produced the hurricane-force gust.
However, a 34 m/s wind is not a record for Belarus for all time of observations. The record speed recorded in the country is 40 m/s, or 144 km/h. Such a value was noted at several meteorological stations:
- Slutsk — August 2, 1959;
- Ivacevičy — August 11, 1961;
- Dokšycy — November 2, 1969;
- Šarkaŭščyna — November 2, 1969.
That is, the strongest wind in the republic was 56.5 years ago. And on August 7, 2023, an aviation meteorological station in Orsha registered a gust of 36 m/s, reported Belhydromet.
This means that the wind on July 13, 2026, became the most powerful since the summer of 2023 – a record for 3 years.
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