Those of us who were on Grand Cayman Friday afternoon watched as the sky turned dark and drops of rain began spitting from the sky.
We knew the weather was unsettled, we just didn’t know how unsettled.
That is until around 12.30pm when something strange happened in West Bay.
A name hasn’t been attached to the phenomena, but we do know it involved wind and damage to a few houses and buildings.
While we aren’t weather experts at the Caymanian Compass, we are familiar with short bursts of wind called microbursts or macrobursts.
A microburst is a column of sinking air, producing damaging divergent and straightline winds at the surface that are similar to but distinguishable from tornadoes, which generally have convergent damage.
A microburst affects areas up to 2.5 miles. A macroburst affects any area larger than 2.5 miles.
This was another freak weather incident that reminded us of the tornado that struck the Prospect area back in September.
While most of our wind storms are hurricane related, Friday’s event and the tornado in September are proof that we can and do get dangerous winds in the Cayman Islands.
Fortunately no one was hurt in either incident, but it does give us pause to realize that we must always be prepared for any weather event.
Unfortunately the Cayman Islands National Meteorological Service doesn’t have the Doppler Weather Radar needed to detect tornadoes, microbursts or macrobursts.
The only way the Met office can know what exactly happened Friday is if those who saw the freak incident call them and recount the event.
Two people called 911, but their names can’t be turned over to the Met office because of the confidentiality of the emergency number.
While we do appreciate the need to keep the identities of people calling 911 confidential, it does seem like the two governmental agencies could have gotten together to try to figure this one out.
While we don’t have to put a name to it to know that damage was caused, it would be nice to know what it was.
And this should serve as another reminder – always be prepared.
We never know what Mother Nature is going to hurl our way.
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