Met Department Defends Friday Night’s Weather Warning

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – In the aftermath of Friday night’s microburst, many who felt its wrath were left asking where the warning was.

But the Met Department says it did its part to warn residents that the entire island was under alert for severe weather warnings. 

Met Department Director Jeffrey Simmons told us that for the past two weeks, they’ve been issuing weather warnings for specific islands if necessary.

Jeffrey Simmons – Director, Bahamas Dept. of Meteorology

“Now, when we’re out in this severe weather. Let’s say we include New Providence in our severe weather warning. We can not say Oh, the east end of the west end of New Providence will be more impacted than any other part of the island. We really cannot do that, and that’s why we put the whole island on alert.”

Simons says the alerts are posted to the department’s webpage, social media, and issued to local news stations. 

While we did not receive any alerts on Friday, the Met Department posted warnings on its Facebook page. 

Simmons says it warned of tornadic activity. 

Jeffrey Simmons – Director, Bahamas Dept. of Meteorology

“We don’t say tornadoes, it’s a tornadic activity. with a tornado, you would have winds spiraling and spinning, okay, and with this, which is a downburst, you can have these strong winds that come from the clouds that resemble a tornado, but it’s just a vertical strong gust of wind, and you know these winds can go up to like 10 mph.”

He adds that the pattern of the damage is not consistent with a tornado 

Jeffrey Simmons – Director, Bahamas Dept. of Meteorology,

The roof that’s partially torn off, and then right next to it, I’m looking at another roof in perfect condition. Tornadoes don’t behave that way. I promise you all those roofs would have been gone.