A microburst can cause damage comparable to or worse than what some tornadoes produce.
The National Weather Service says strong thunderstorms that knocked out power to about 50,000 homes and businesses in Connecticut on Tuesday produced multiple microbursts with wind gusts of up to 95 mph.
The Weather Service announced Wednesday that radar data indicates several microbursts hit the southern part of the state Tuesday. No tornadoes were reported.
A microburst is a downdraft of air during a thunderstorm that can cause damage comparable to or worse than what some tornadoes produce. If the diameter of the downdraft is less than 2.5 miles, it is called a microburst. According to NOAA, wind speeds as high as 150 mph are possible in extreme microburst cases.
The storms knocked down trees, branches, and power lines in many areas.
Fox CT reported that roads all over the state were closed on Wednesday.
Durham, where most of Eversource's 3,000 customers lost power, still had 1,800 outages Wednesday afternoon.
This report contains information from The Associated Press. Rob Dozier is an intern at WNPR.