How to Use updraft in a Sentence

updraft

noun
Definition of updraftnext
  • The warm moist air feeding into the storm, or updraft, twists around it like a corkscrew.
    — Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 31 May 2017
  • If the updrafts are strong enough and last long enough, the graupel can keep growing and become denser.
    — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 11 Aug. 2023
  • Strong updrafts tossed the aircraft and thick hail battered its body.
    — Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, 6 June 2018
  • Stronger updrafts help hail stay aloft and grow larger.
    — oregonlive, 9 Apr. 2023
  • Simard writes, for instance, of the thrill of watching an eagle catch an updraft.
    — Lorraine Berry, Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2021
  • The warm air rises through the colder air, causing an updraft.
    — Ron Johnson, National Geographic, 28 Aug. 2019
  • The vertical part of the plus sign is a strong updraft wind into the thunderstorm.
    — Chris Bianchi, The Denver Post, 25 July 2019
  • It’s not unusual for a 6-foot wave to produce a 30-foot-tall updraft.
    — Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Apr. 2021
  • Many birds rest when the sun is high, but raptors such as eagles and hawks soar on updrafts that form when sunlight warms the ground.
    — The New York Times Elaine Chen Emily Anthes, New York Times, 18 May 2023
  • If a thunderstorm cell was able to get going, then those strong wind changes could impart a spin to the updraft.
    — Washington Post, 4 May 2021
  • With fire, Iona can transform a planet into a ball of flame and use the updraft to reach far away portions of a level.
    — Matthew Gault, Time, 12 Aug. 2019
  • If thermals exist, pilots can key in on them, catch the updrafts, and extend their flight time.
    — Denise Coffey, Courant Community, 2 Aug. 2017
  • The wind shear acts to tilt the updraft away from the downdraft in storm cells, so that the two do not interfere, increasing storm vigor.
    — Washington Post, 21 July 2021
  • The waves get steeper as they near shore, further strengthening the updraft.
    — Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 28 Apr. 2021
  • The updraft will begin to rotate if winds vary sharply in speed or direction.
    — Ron Johnson, National Geographic, 28 Aug. 2019
  • The idea is that this rotating air could then be turned upright when it gets sucked into an updraft.
    — Carolyn Wilke, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Nov. 2023
  • The speed of the updraft and the amount of ash in the plume can reveal how intensely a fire is burning, said Forrest, who operated the radar scans.
    — Jack Lee, San Francisco Chronicle, 26 Oct. 2022
  • There was no rotation, Hatzos said, but there was a slight updraft.
    — Jennie Key, Cincinnati.com, 5 Feb. 2020
  • The data does not say what became of the swallows, a species that is said to fly high at times, with thermal updrafts, hunting insects.
    — Fred Swegles, Orange County Register, 11 Apr. 2017
  • To ride the wave without facing adverse outcomes, fello’fly planes will use an updraft of air that’s just outside the tube of wingtip vortex.
    — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 21 Sep. 2020
  • That updraft will go away in 2020, leading to a more moderate second half.
    — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, 24 Jan. 2020
  • This, however, does require a strong and long-lived updraft to help stretch and tighten the rotation.
    — Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 19 June 2018
  • The updrafts lower the weight of the air at the surface, and this can agitate the ocean surface dramatically.
    — Anthony R. Wood, Philly.com, 16 May 2018
  • The peak of the updraft has two spinning columns on either side of it—the larger of the two columns overtakes the smaller one and becomes the thunderstorm.
    — Daisy Hernandez, Popular Mechanics, 25 Sep. 2020
  • And the shear can initiate a region of rotation in the updraft, called a mesocyclone.
    — Washington Post, 26 June 2020
  • This change of wind with altitude helps sustain storm updrafts.
    — Jason Samenow, Washington Post, 9 May 2018
  • The rotating updraft allows the storm to produce large hail, high wind gusts, and strong tornadoes.
    — Dennis Mersereau, Outside Online, 30 Apr. 2019
  • Suddenly, a monstrous black bird coasted across the sky on an updraft, gliding high above my head.
    — Emily Pennington, Outside Online, 25 Feb. 2020
  • For any storms that acquire rotating updrafts, a brief tornado or two is not out of the question.
    — Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 3 July 2023
  • With cold air aloft and potential strong updrafts, there is a low threat for small hail and a quick spin-up tornado is possible as storms move near the coast.
    — Jennifer Collins, Sun Sentinel, 24 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'updraft.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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