Tornado in Homestead? Not quite — here's what really caused all that heavy wind

MIAMI — People who call Homestead and the Redlands home were shocked to see and feel heavy strong winds on Wednesday afternoon, with some believing a tornado touched down in the area.

However, there were no tornadoes in South Florida at that time. But what was all that wind?

"We had a pretty interesting downburst windstorm that produced straight-line wind damage," said CBS News Miami's NEXT Weather Meteorologist Cindy Preszler, adding that the winds were so strong that they uprooted a large tree near 280th Street and 187th Avenue.

So then what are downbursts and straight-line winds?

When air is brought down rapidly to the ground from a storm's downdraft, that creates downbursts, the National Weather Service explained on X. Winds reported in Homestead were estimated to have reached nearly 50 mph.

As opposed to a tornado, these winds spread out in one direction — hence the term "straight-line" winds, the NWS added.

In:
• South Florida
• Southwest Miami-Dade
• Windy Weather
• Tornado