Chief Meteorological Officer Cheryl Leblanc has confirmed that the weather phenomenon which created much excitement in the Carib Territory earlier this week was a waterspout.
She came to the conclusion after examining a series of photographs and a video provided by Dominica News Online on the event.
“Based on what I saw, it was a waterspout,” she told DNO.
According to Leblanc the weather phenomena begins as a funnel cloud which is a circulation of air that extends from the base of clouds such as cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.
When the funnel cloud comes in contact with a body of water it is called a waterspout, Leblanc explained to DNO.
She said normally the formation of a funnel cloud or a waterspout is accompanied by rain and thunder.
Leblanc explained that funnel clouds and waterspouts form through tout the year but are more prevalent during the summer months.
“They may cause danger to fishermen and if they are in the area where the waterspout is in contact with water they should move away,” she pointed out.
On Monday evening much excitement was created when news began circulating that a ball of fire was seen spiraling into the sea off the coast of the Carib Territory.
This prompted a search of the area by helicopter and the coast guard, following speculation that a private French plane may have crashed into the sea.
No debris, oil spill or other associated matter that would suggest a plane crash was found, and local authorities confirmed that there had been no loss of air traffic from Dominica or any of the neighboring islands.
Photos below depicts the evolution of the waterspout as witnessed by Anderson Burton.
Why Pple so fast to be in the center of things like that, all u see a water sprout move away frm it doe go closer, so if all of a sudden d sea start goin back all u will run towards it?
GRANNY!!!! I tell uu\ behave urself unno!
They said it was a Sprout, they said it was a fire ball, they SAY its soucouyant, some say it’s a meteorite. Is that the truth? If so, why were Helicopters on the scene so fast? Cost Guard? Both Dominica and Guadeloupe? How could the news reach so fast that the authorities came so fast? There were signal flares. They looked like fire of some sort. No? Why were the signal Flares shot in the air? When all that was happening, what happened at Donkey Beach in Canefield? Of course the coast guard were not aware! Because they were not monitoring that coastal area!! All their attention AND resources were in the EAST. Stop Being fooled people. You will NEVER be told the truth. Not by the police, nor DASPA or the Met Office. Some of us know the truth.
However there will still be Questions in all of your minds am sure!!(Drugs maybe?) Peace out!
well wasnt it a spout? there were pictures..i guess they waited for a water spout before they did whatever in donkey beach…perfect timming
YEP. THEY WORKED REAL FAST. BUT WHEN IT COMES TO FINDING JUSTICE IT TAKES A THOUSAND YEARS. THE COAST GUARDS AND THE HELICOPTERS SHOULD GO AND FIND SEEKO SEKKO AND THE MURDERER OF WAYNE DALRYMPLE…THE LIST GOES ON.
you cant even ask a question critically how would you understand answers? If a suspected plane crash is reported wouldnt you expect all units overseas or home to be alerted and to act promptly? In the age of technology where people in the states gets news about Dominica before some of us here you still wonder how they got the news fast? do you live under a rock? Go on with your bad self, conspiracy theorist but have a conspiracy that makes sense.
when auhorities delay u people complain, when they report ASAP u people still compalin..that means u dont know what what u all want and so will not be satisfied with the actions taken
Lets say that that was a ball of fire that crashed in the sea. Then that was the most organized smoke column i have ever seen, Look how windy it is in the video…and that smoke didnt move an inch. I have never seen smoke so intact nor have i seen smoke just stod there for about 45 seconds.
Again lets just say that it was a ball of fire…as soon as the ball hit the water its supposed to sink right? so why is this smoke just standing there? and not disappearing.
But lets say that somehow the ball of fire did not sink and it on a see of water burning…ive never seen smoke rise to high it touch clouds, next time you pass a factory or one of those cruise ships. wait till they release a column of smoke…if you count to 10 and you can still see that column of smoke…then im an idiot
soucouyan me say.
aliens dat come for our water
Lmao
aye is a soucuyah that allu too sot
yh
aliens
btw,,when i say always touches down..i mean.always moves downwards to the ground,,or water..may not actually touch down everytime..and when it doesn,, tornaodoes pick up debris like cars and waterspouts can flip boats or send fish flying in the air!
what i want to know is how do you get a ball of fire from a waterspout story? lol… i mean,,seriously? and to “teacher” who begs to differ..go read a book! waterspouts,tornados,sand devils and whirlwinds all form the same way!the funnel always touches down! from the sky to the ground! jeez,watch some discovery channel or something!
check the chemistry of lightening.
He told his partner that the water sprout which is over the sea touching the water is “touching d Ground”. lol…
“If it come up that can take man you know” lol…
Sounds so funny… one thought came to mind that the water sprout “if it come up it can take man”… was wondering which way to interpret…
Did he mean that the water sprout was a female and if it come up it could go and get a couple man to heat it up… lol
or that it would sweep them away… lol…
Hey it’s just about having a laugh so don’t get all to serious on my comment… lol
The video is just funny to me listening to the guy narating. lol
Didn’t they say it happened late at night? Why is there so much light like is midday in the pics and the video? Tell people the real story
it happened around 5pm.
n they sayin is about 11 am lie alone
but don’t u know that 6-7 pm is bright still smdh
DNO, I running here to see if I see what happened under the Canefield cliff this after and nothing. I am disappointed. First time. There is still time. Hurry.
so a waterspout turn into a ball of fire? you see how some people does end up in jail? smh…
I did a reserach and found out that they were filming the the 4th episode of “The Transformers”
Do your own research and conclude for yourselves….
This is the signs of the last days are drawing near according to the holy book. we can run but we cannot hide,so Dominica repent turn away from your evil ways. OH! I feel so holy.
I just don’t see how that looks like a ball of fire though..lol
I have a question: how could what was seen in the video be a ball of fire?
met office, many thanks for the conclusion to this idle story. FIN.
Question. How often do these things happen on the island and shold we be gettting ready for twisters on the island?
when i heard that, my first thought was a soucoyant that was flying and fell into the sea and i still think thats what it was.
I beg to differ with the conclusion of what occurred. Based on what I read, a watersprout works it way from the water to the cloud. What we saw in the video was the other way around. It came from the clouds to the water.
“A waterspout, like a tornado, consists of air that’s rising into a cloud. Various natural forces that researchers are just learning to understand in detail have given the rising air its spinning motion. As the air rises, more air rushes in to replace it, and begins spinning and rising into the cloud”
Have you ever seen a tornado start from the ground and go to the sky hmmmmm……come again
You need to look at Weather Channel a little more! The air rushing to the cloud does not mean the cloud starts from the ground or water surface! Geeze! Have you ever seen a tornado funnel start from the ground and go up?! You cant see the air rushing up but when it meets the cloud that’s when the cloud makes it visible! The Met Officer knows what she’s talking about!
And your field of expertise is in what if I may ask?
read over carefully and u will see that u are the one who did not understood what u read about the formation of a watersprout.Teacher,start reading again from (ACCORDING TO LEBLANC),and understandvery well TEACHER.
How would that even work? Water cannot flow up. The water is SUCKED UP however from the sea or wherever the waterspout is INTO the massive rotation of the spout.
There’s nothing to beg to differ. Unless the article worded something oddly (which I didn’t find) all tornadoes and waterspouts go from the sky downwards, not the other way around.
Water dont flow up rats dont die up, what is all this about these days nah? I say is a sookooyant
YES THAT IS A STORY . WHY THE PEOPLE SAY THEY SAW A BALL OF FIRE AND NOW SCIENTIST SAY IS A WATERSPROUT. ANYWAYS PEOPLE EAT ANYTHING SCIENTIST TROW AT THEM BUT I WILL SAY EYE WITNESS SAY THEY SAW A BALL OF FIRE CAN YU EXPLAIN THAT FOR ME. STOP HIDE THE TRUTH FROM THE PEOPLE AND LET THEM KNOW ABOUT THE RED PLANET CALL NEBURI THAT IS HEADING FOR EARTH AND IS SENDING OUT FIRE STONES AND IS LANDING ALL OVER DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD. GET THE PEOPLE READY FOR WHATS COMING. ANYWAYS ONLY JAH CAN SAVE US FROM WHAT IS HEADING FOR EARTH.
eye witnesses also took the pictures above. do anyone of the pics look like a ball of fire to you? do some critical thinking for once nah
oh please!!! the people did not know it was going to happen.apparently the ball of fire happened first by the time they got to their cameras,cell phones or whatever they only got the latter part of the occurance.COMMON SENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have you every thought that the witness might not be credible ? do u see a ball of fire in the picture or videos? an metorite the size of a school bus can decimate countries do you even think that one that looks as large as a plane could have fallen so close to dominica and there was no sound, no earthquake no nothing?Also you claim that people eat anythin scientist ‘trow’ at them the theory that a red planet called Neburi is heading for earth…Who feed that to you? a scientist maybe? Do you people think before you comment?
Nothing beats a little excitement in the news for once, something to laugh about and wonder. Well it’s not any SOUCOUYANT as well.
Should Dominicans be concerned about the water spout? See how it appears most frequently in the states and is alway a prelude to a tonado.
girl that was not a watersprout. all you dat go and make de people conclude is a watersprout. Me myself sticking to that soucouyant story eh. even dat is a betta explanation dan dat watersprout farce.
I second that.
And I guess your granny missing too eh
No…most of the tornadoes in America take place in the Midwest and there is NEVER a waterspout BEFORE a tornado!
A waterspout only turns into a tornado if it crosses over onto land and vise versa.
this means that we would have nunerous tonadoes since its not the first time we have water sprouts. the last one was sighted at fond cole.
THE ALIENS ARE HERE
LET’S WELCOME DEM
LOL thank you for the welcome. My brethren and I will not harm you for this
lmao.
Thank you for the warm welcome.
. Alas. Dominica has some creative story tellers/writers. But im glad it’s not a plane that crashed
funny i heard that a plane had transformed into a ball of fire
I know right. That is so far from that. Alas