UPDRAFT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does updraft mean? 

• UPDRAFT (noun)
  The noun UPDRAFT has 1 sense:

1. a strong upward air current

  Familiarity information: UPDRAFT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UPDRAFT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A strong upward air current

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("updraft" is a kind of...):

draft; draught (a current of air (usually coming into a chimney or room or vehicle))

 Context examples 

When that warm air is forced to rise, it causes convection—a circulation of warm updrafts and cool downdrafts—and sometimes creates a storm.

(Scientists tackle mystery of thunderstorms that strike at night, NSF)

When airborne dust heats up, it creates updrafts that carry gases along with it, including the small quantity of water vapor sometimes seen as wispy clouds on Mars.

(Global Storms on Mars Launch Dust Towers Into the Sky, NASA)

The results revealed vigorous, fire-generated updrafts and strongly turbulent eddies that formed along the fire plume's edges.

(Researchers discover how wildfires create their own weather, National Science Foundation)

Although analysis is ongoing, most waves are expected to be atmospheric gravity waves - up-and-down ripples that form in the atmosphere above something that disturbs air flow, such as a thunderstorm updraft, disruptions of flow around other features, or from some other disturbance that JunoCam does not detect.

(NASA's Juno Mission Detects Jupiter Wave Trains, NASA)