It’s not every day you see the heavens open up and dump a deluge of water into an Alpine lake.
That’s exactly what happened to mountaineer Peter Maier, though — and he caught it on film.
Maier captured the stunning timelapse from his hotel terrace in Lake Millstatt, Austria.
via GIPHY
The incredible footage quickly picked up traction online, attracting over 1.8 million views on YouTube at the time of writing.
“Tsunami from heaven,” Maier captioned the , which has been shared over 28,000 times.
“One can’t plan on capturing such images. It was a lucky shot,” he said.
What Maier witnessed was a rare microburst. According to Accuweather, a microburst is “a small column of exceptionally intense and localized sinking air that results in a violent outrush of air at the ground.”
Sometimes, these microbursts are accompanied by significant amounts of precipitation — as in Maier’s case — which is defined as a “wet microburst.”
These meteorological phenomena can cause serious issues for planes. In 1985, a microburst caused 137 casualties and 28 injuries after a domestic Delta Air Lines flight encountered the intense downdraft while approaching Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
By Tom Murray
Source: this insider
