Narrative:

I was the pilot flying (PF). During our arrival in to den we observed reports there was a thunderstorm cell rapidly building just to the southwest of the airfield; moving north. As we checked in with approach; we acknowledged the ATIS which included 'LLWAS advisories' and 'microburst advisories.' we were assigned a runway on initial contact and started getting descents and vectors. The first officer and I went over windshear/microburst recognition and escape maneuvers while we were getting vectors.as we approached from the north; we were advised the runway would change due to a tower microburst alert on the runway. We then briefed and set up for runway 16R. As we joined final; we could see several rain shafts coming out of the cloud bases and observed several cloud to ground lighting strikes to the right of our flight path. We were cleared for a visual approach behind another B737 and could barely see the runway through the rain shaft. We checked in with tower and were cleared to land. As we approached the rain shaft at about 8;000 feet; I had the autopilot/auto throttle on and I noticed the throttles go to idle and the airspeed rapidly increase as well as moderate turbulence. At about the same time; tower made a windshear advisory of a loss of 25 knots on a 2 mile final. We heard 2 aircraft ahead of us go around on the tower frequency and I called a go around also as I observed the beginnings of a microburst encounter.at the beginning of the go-around; we were configured flaps 15; gear down. We started the go around about 7;600 feet and were told by tower to 'maintain 8;000 feet; fly heading 180.' I hit the toga switch; called for; 'flaps 15; check thrust' then 'positive rate; gear up. I then called for flaps 5 as we were rapidly accelerating while leveling at 8;000 feet. Next; we encountered the center of the microburst where the aircraft started rolling 25 degrees and losing airspeed. I then called; 'max thrust; stow speed brake.' I started to pitch up for 15 degrees nose up and roll the aircraft back to wings level. We lost maybe 200 feet and then came out of it. I then called for' flaps up; after takeoff checklist' as airspeed was again increasing. During the entire event we had moderate turbulence and borderline severe in the center of the microburst. The flight attendants and passengers had been seated for 15 minutes prior to encountering the turbulence. No injuries were reported.after the microburst encounter; we were told by approach that they would switch the airport to a north configuration. They also stated the thunderstorm was now mostly on the north side of the airfield. We checked our alternate weather and decided we had fuel left for one approach. We were then vectored to about a 15 mile final and landed normally. During the microburst encounter; we never heard any onboard windshear cautions or warnings. I had told the flight attendants to be seated well prior to the event due to the expected thunderstorm.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported encountering a windshear and microburst on short final into DEN.

Narrative: I was the Pilot Flying (PF). During our arrival in to DEN we observed reports there was a thunderstorm cell rapidly building just to the southwest of the airfield; moving north. As we checked in with Approach; we acknowledged the ATIS which included 'LLWAS advisories' and 'Microburst advisories.' We were assigned a runway on initial contact and started getting descents and vectors. The First Officer and I went over windshear/microburst recognition and escape maneuvers while we were getting vectors.As we approached from the North; we were advised the runway would change due to a tower microburst alert on the runway. We then briefed and set up for runway 16R. As we joined final; we could see several rain shafts coming out of the cloud bases and observed several cloud to ground lighting strikes to the right of our flight path. We were cleared for a Visual Approach behind another B737 and could barely see the runway through the rain shaft. We checked in with Tower and were cleared to land. As we approached the rain shaft at about 8;000 feet; I had the autopilot/auto throttle on and I noticed the throttles go to idle and the airspeed rapidly increase as well as moderate turbulence. At about the same time; Tower made a windshear advisory of a loss of 25 knots on a 2 mile final. We heard 2 aircraft ahead of us go around on the Tower frequency and I called a go around also as I observed the beginnings of a microburst encounter.At the beginning of the go-around; we were configured Flaps 15; gear down. We started the go around about 7;600 feet and were told by tower to 'maintain 8;000 feet; fly heading 180.' I hit the TOGA switch; called for; 'Flaps 15; check thrust' then 'positive rate; gear up. I then called for flaps 5 as we were rapidly accelerating while leveling at 8;000 feet. Next; we encountered the center of the microburst where the aircraft started rolling 25 degrees and losing airspeed. I then called; 'max thrust; stow speed brake.' I started to pitch up for 15 degrees nose up and roll the aircraft back to wings level. We lost maybe 200 feet and then came out of it. I then called for' flaps up; after takeoff checklist' as airspeed was again increasing. During the entire event we had moderate turbulence and borderline severe in the center of the microburst. The Flight Attendants and passengers had been seated for 15 minutes prior to encountering the turbulence. No injuries were reported.After the microburst encounter; we were told by Approach that they would switch the airport to a North configuration. They also stated the thunderstorm was now mostly on the North side of the airfield. We checked our alternate weather and decided we had fuel left for one approach. We were then vectored to about a 15 mile final and landed normally. During the microburst encounter; we never heard any onboard windshear cautions or warnings. I had told the flight attendants to be seated well prior to the event due to the expected thunderstorm.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.