News 12 Meteorologists Darryl Green and Mike Rizzo analyzed weather data from the local radar this afternoon and determined that a signal for a downburst was estimated to be over Bensonhurst and New Utrecht in Brooklyn at 3:41 p.m.

A downburst is a sudden burst of wind, moving in the same down direction as the rain. As this wind crashes into the ground, it spreads out in all directions, forming wind gusts in a straight line away from the point of burst. 

A downburst is sudden and can down trees and power lines in addition to blowing objects away. Downbursts differ from a tornado as tornados are violently rotating columns of air that often create wind damage patterns that twist - and are not consistent with straight line gusts.

Darryl Green and Mike Rizzo's analyzed that the radar did not have a strong signal for a tornado (rotation), but it did for a downburst.