Met Office Says Billy White Storm was Thunderstorm
And while the residents of Billy White certainly had a time of it with today’s freak storm, News Five spoke with Deputy Chief Meteorologist Michelle Augustine who classified it as a thunderstorm, not a tornado.
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine, Deputy Chief Meteorologist
“Between eight-thirty and eight-forty-five this morning, there was an isolated thunderstorm but the thunderstorm was kind of strong, so probably severe and that is what affected that area of the Cayo District this morning and resulted in some minor damage in the area.”
Andrea Polanco
“Is that something normal for this time of the year?”
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine
“We are in the rainy season so we do expect showers and thunderstorms, particularly thunderstorms to pop up over the inland areas such as Cayo District during this month.”
Andrea Polanco
“Is there a reason why in that area you would see that kind of weather activity?”
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine
“Okay well the inland areas tend to heat up a bit more than along the coast because there is no water body, so to speak, such as the sea to thunder radial temperatures. So, what we find is that we have temperatures heat up rather quickly and that leads to intense, at times, to severe thunderstorm developments.”
Andrea Polanco
“Did your system show any other thunderstorms in other parts of the country?”
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine
“Right, down south yes from since early this morning the Toledo District was receiving thunderstorms and showers as well.”
Andrea Polanco
“For the purpose of our viewers – when we hear thunderstorm we think thunder immediately breakdown for us what a thunderstorm look like – what does it entail to be classified a thunderstorm?”
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine
“Alright so there’s normally some huge development in the clouds; so your normal cumulus clouds would tend to develop to a large extent and pack more energy and electricity and that is why you would have the lightning and that is manifested in sound by thunder. So, that in a nutshell is what the thunderstorm is all about.”
Andrea Polanco
“Is it associated with any kinds of rains as well?”
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine
“Yes, occasionally you can get rain with thunderstorms, moderate to heavy rainfall with a thunderstorm. But that is not always the case, sometimes the thunderstorm just occurs and there is no rainfall associated with it especially if the thunderstorm occurs farthest away from where the actual rainfall is occurring then you would have just thunder and lightning if barely rainfall is in the area.”
Andrea Polanco
“So, when you put out advisories to say there is expected thunderstorms in such and such area, what do you advise residents to do?”
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine
“Okay the first thing is to remain vigilant some thunderstorms, as we saw earlier this morning can become severe and the severity sometimes happens rapidly and I suspect that was the case that occurred this morning. So, with that we ask residents to remain vigilant during the rainy season, especially when we issue severe thunderstorm alert is usually because we recognize that thunderstorm can become really strong over a particular and cause some catastrophic damage to that area.”
Andrea Polanco
“And going into the weekend – can we expect anything?”
On the Phone: Michelle Augustine
“Going into the weekend we expect mainly fair weather actually. We expect conditions to become drier over the area and so mainly fair weather with warm temperatures, I must add. We expect temperatures to heat up over the weekend, particularly on Sunday.”
