Today Is an Important Day For Weather Science...

and, for America! It is the 25th anniversary of the last airliner crash caused by a downburst.

Weather science has done wonders but, for the purposes of aviation, nothing exceeds the conquering of the downburst.

From a news story five years ago. 

My piece at the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang column about this milestone is here. Some additional thoughts:

Here is one of my seven photos of the lifecycle on a downburst.

One look at this photo revealed something unique was in progress -- it wasn't an ordinary downdraft as most in meteorology believed at the time.

The stress on Ted Fujita (center, below), because of his unpopular downburst hypothesis, was unimaginable. The "consensus" throughout meteorology was that he was mistaken.

Dr. Ted Fujita visiting WeatherData, Inc.

Nevertheless, he marshaled his courage, persisted, and was proven correct -- unfortunately, it wasn't until nearly 300 more airline passengers has perished.

I tell the entire story of the conquering of the downburst, including the important litigation that followed the Delta crash, here.