Freak weather in Campinas, Brazil
© Divulgação/Rafael CoutinhoIn the photo, you can see that the cloud vortex is well run and does not touch the ground, which would be characteristic of a tornado (translated by Google).
A severe weather event during Saturday night (4th June) caused extensive damage in the Campinas region of Brazil. According to one news report there were wind speeds of 100km/h. Initially attributed to a tornado, later reports suggest a microburst was responsible for the freak weather.

The Center for Weather and Climate Research Applied to Agriculture (Cepagri) of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), defined the phenomenon that hit the São Paulo city of Campinas on Sunday morning as a Microburst.

The phenomenon has a destructive power similar to a tornado. At least 70 trees fell and houses were left without roofs with streets flooded. 100,000 properties remain without power.

Ana Avila, director at Cepagri said:
The Microburst is more violent than a tornado. The curious thing is that they do not usually happen this time of year.

Data provided by the Brazilian Network of Lightning (BrasilDAT) showed that 1,450 lightning strikes were recorded during the storm.

A photographer Ana Carolina Alves commented on the intense lightning show:
It was almost 25 minutes without interruption. I've never seen anything like it, it was amazing.
(translations by Google)