Microburst at Grand Lake Lifts and Flips Two Boats from the Water

Fortunately no one was injured, following an unusual incident caused by weather in Grand Lake over the holiday weekend.

According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, on Sunday (July 4), a strong microburst lifted two pontoon boats out of the water and dumped them back down. One of the boats landed upside down on top of other boats, and the second pontoon ended up right next to a nearby residence.

9News reported that neither of the pontoons were occupied when they were lifted out of the lake, but that a family had just gotten out of one approximately five minutes before the microburst occurred.

The National Weather Service explains that a microburst is a weather phenomenon that involves a localized column of sinking air, also known as a downdraft, during a thunderstorm. Microbursts are typically less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter, so they can be extremely damaging when they happen.

Thankfully, no one was in the surrounding area when the microburst at Grand Lake took place.

The CPW Marine Evidence Recovery Team, Grand County Sheriff and Grand County Fire all responded to the scene.

LOOK: See America's 50 Best Beach Towns

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

Categories: Articles, NoCo News, Weather