23 questions on this topic, recalled by candidates after DGCA sittings between 2021 and 2026. Together they were asked 66 times; the most repeated come first. Pick a year to see only what was asked that year.
A. Less than 4 km
A microburst is a violent downburst less than 4 km across, lasting only a few minutes - small enough to catch an aircraft on final approach.
B. 4 km or more
A downburst 4 km or more across is a macroburst; under 4 km it is a microburst.
B. Steep lapse rate, adequate supply of moisture and a trigger action
Three ingredients: instability (a steep lapse rate), plenty of moisture to release latent heat, and a trigger to start the lifting - heating, a front, hills or convergence.
A. CB
The CB brings everything at once: severe turbulence, severe icing, hail, lightning, microbursts and wind shear. Avoid it; never fly through it.
B. 30 to 45 min
The correct answer is: 30 to 45 min.
B. Afternoons and evenings
Norwesters are heat-triggered: they build with the afternoon heating over east and north-east India and strike in the late afternoon and evening.
B. night
Over the sea, thunderstorms are most frequent at night: the sea stays warm while the air above cools by radiation, which steepens the lapse rate. Over land the peak comes in the afternoon.
C. Updraughts and downdraughts both
The mature stage starts when rain begins to fall. Falling rain drags air down beside the updraughts, so both exist together - the most violent, turbulent stage.
B. Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Assam
The Norwester (Kal Baisakhi) is the pre-monsoon squally thunderstorm of east and north-east India - West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam.
A. Updraughts throughout
In the cumulus stage, latent heat keeps the cloud warmer than its surroundings, so the whole cloud rises in updraughts. Downdraughts appear only with the rain in the mature stage.
B. N India
Andhis are the blinding dust storms of north India in the hot weather season, raised by the strong gusts of dry thunderstorms.
B. Mature stage
The start of precipitation at the surface marks the beginning of the mature stage.
B. Downdraughts
In the dissipating stage the downdraughts spread through the whole cell and cut off the supply of warm moist air; the storm rains itself out.
B. March-May
They belong to the hot weather (pre-monsoon) season, March to May.
B. Severe thunderstorms over NE India during the hot weather period
Named after the direction they usually come from, Norwesters are violent pre-monsoon thunderstorms with squalls and hail over east and north-east India.
C. Pre-monsoon
The hot, dry pre-monsoon months, with strong surface heating and gusty winds, raise dust storms (andhis) over Rajasthan, Punjab and the plains.
B. Inside the CB and outside it as well
Turbulence is not confined to the cloud: gust fronts, downdraughts and shear extend well outside it - under the anvil and ahead of the storm. Keep a wide margin.
B. Mature stage
Heavy rain, hail, lightning, gust fronts and the worst turbulence all come in the mature stage, when updraughts and downdraughts work side by side.
A. Western disturbances
In the hot weather season, western disturbances passing across the north set off thunderstorms and dust storms over Punjab and Rajasthan.
B. CB with heavy turbulence
Pre-monsoon storms are heat-driven cumulonimbus - Norwesters, andhis and hailstorms - with severe turbulence and squalls.
A. 6 to 24 hr
A mesoscale convective complex is a large, organised cluster of thunderstorms, far longer-lived than a single cell: typically 6 to 24 hours.
A. CB
TS is a thunderstorm and +RA heavy rain. A thunderstorm comes only from a cumulonimbus, so +TSRA means a CB overhead or nearby giving heavy rain.
B. Squall lines
When thunderstorms organise into a line along or ahead of a cold front they form a squall line, and these are far more violent than isolated air-mass storms: the cells feed each other, the gust front is continuous, and this is the structure that produces destructive surface winds, giant hail and tornadoes.
These are candidates' recollections, not official DGCA papers: wording can differ from the paper as set. Every answer was checked against the DGCA CARs, AIP India, ICAO documents or worked calculation (independent check completed 17 Oct 2026). Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will check it against the source.