Wild Weather Explained: Tornado or Microburst?

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – It wasn’t your typical wild weather over the weekend.

Heavy rainfall, dangerous thunder and lightning, and howling winds left residents in the dark, many of their homes and cars were damaged.

The residents I spoke to on the ground assumed it was a tornado but what really happened?

In a Facebook post on Saturday, the Bahamas Department of Meteorology said it was not a tornado, but a microburst.

So, what’s the difference?

A microburst is a powerful rush of air that rapidly descends from a thunderstorm, spreads outwards, and hits the ground.

The Meteorology Department’s statement also said their radars didn’t detect a tight rotation.

But it did pick up heavy rainfall cores – with damage reports showing straight-line impacts rather than swirling patterns.

But what did drone footage show?

A path of destruction that begins at Andros Crescent moving north along Fox Hill Road, ending on Prince Charles Drive.

And then there’s this video obtained by Our News showing doorbell camera footage during the wild weather.

In the video you can see a gust of wind passing in front of a home, debris and even electrical sparks appearing to “swirl” before the wind slowed.

Now meteorologists say while it may have felt like a tornado, microbursts can generate winds up to 100mph and that can give the false  illusion of a tornado.