The Earth Story

In this phenomenal capture by Roberto Giudici, we see four waterspouts over the Adriatic Sea.

A sister of the tornado, waterspouts are generally less powerful. They occur when high layers of cool air blow across a body of water while warm moist air sweeps up from below. They appear as thin columns with the funnels sucking up water. Waterspouts can vary in size from a few feet to more than a mile in height, and from a few feet to hundreds of feet wide.

These water twisters can move anywhere from 3 to 130 kilometres per hour (km/hr). Winds within the waterspout can spiral around at 97-195 km/hr.

Waterspouts, like their land counterparts, can pick up and transport some interesting objects. They have sent showers of tadpoles in New York, and even toads in France. One in Providence, Rhode Island, rained fish down on the people, who promptly collected and sold them!

-Jean

For a video of a waterspout from this week, see here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2cIWi0kjWc

In this phenomenal capture by Roberto Giudici, we see four waterspouts over the Adriatic Sea.

A sister of the tornado, waterspouts are generally less powerful. They occur when high layers of cool air blow across a body of water while warm moist air sweeps up from below. They appear as thin columns with the funnels sucking up water.

Waterspouts can vary in size from a few feet to more than a mile in height, and from a few feet to hundreds of feet wide.

These water twisters can move anywhere from 2 to 80 miles an hour. Winds within the waterspout can spiral around at 60-120 miles an hour.

Waterspouts, like their land counterparts, can pick up and transport some interesting objects. They have sent showers of tadpoles in New York, and even toads in France. One in Providence, Rhode Island, rained fish down on the people, who promptly collected and sold them!

-Jean

For a video of a waterspout, see here: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tornadoes/water-spouts/

Waterspouts over Lake Michigan. These watery tornadoes don't just occur at sea, but over any large body of water subject to supercell thunderstorms. We did a post explaining their formation some months back at http://tinyurl.com/qhbd8qv. Loz Image credit: Kevin Poirier/AP

Hydrous tornado over Florida

These vortices of wind and cloud are essentially tornadoes formed over water, though they tend to be less destructive than their land based cousins. They are not always associated with supercell thunderstorms (even a sedate cumulus cloud can be enough), and therefore usually have less energy fueling their formation. They do not usually suck up a column of water, the cloud results from condensation from the rising air as the water evaporates, and the fair weather variety if a phenomenon arising from the complex dynamics of cloud formation.

The milder fair weather kind form when layers of cool air blow over the water surface as warm moist air is rising off the water from evaporation, often in association with a line of cumulus clouds. The clouds are often slow moving, unlike supercells, and this type can be fairly static in space. The more powerful ones form from supercells above water and resemble tornadoes in energy. They can be very hazardous to ships, swimmers and light aircraft. Hail, lightning and hissing sounds can accompany the phenomenon, and rains of fish or frogs have been reported to fall as they disintegrate.

Loz

Image credit: Joey Mole via APOD https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/waterspout.html http://bit.ly/2eRqzFW For a video of a waterspout, see here: http://bit.ly/2gu695W

Waterspouts over the Adriatic

These vortices of wind and cloud are essentially tornadoes formed over water, though they tend to be less destructive than their land based cousins. They are not always associated with supercell thunderstorms (even a sedate cumulus cloud can be enough), and therefore usually have less energy fueling their formation. They do not usually suck up a column of water, the cloud results from condensation from the rising air as the water evaporates, and the fair weather variety if a phenomenon arising from the complex dynamics of cloud formation.

The milder fair weather kind form when layers of cool air blow over the water surface as warm moist air is rising off the water from evaporation, often in association with a line of cumulus clouds. The clouds are often slow moving, unlike supercells, and this type can be fairly static in space. The more powerful ones form from supercells above water and resemble tornadoes in energy. They can be very hazardous to ships, swimmers and light aircraft. Hail, lightning and hissing sounds can accompany the phenomenon, and rains of fish or frogs have been reported to fall as they disintegrate.

Loz

Image credit: Roberto Guiducci via EPOD http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/waterspout.html http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/waterspout/?ar_a=1

ABC News yesterday captured and shared this remarkable severe weather video - 3 waterspouts over Lake Pontchartrain, just north of New Orleans.

Waterspouts aren't quite tornadoes - tornadoes are driven by shearing, high-speed winds, while waterspouts are driven by warm, moist air at the ocean surface that rises. Since rising air will always have some spin to it, the rising column of air will start spinning, creating a waterspout. This is stellar video of a waterspout coming onshore in Brazil - the waterspout hits shore, loses its supply of warm air from the ocean, and dies out pretty quick, but definitely scared a lot of people.

Spectacular footage of waterspouts from cloud to sea level off the coast of Italy.

In this phenomenal capture by Roberto Giudici, we see four waterspouts over the Adriatic Sea. A sister of the tornado, waterspouts are generally less powerful. They occur when high layers of cool air blow across a body of water while warm moist air sweeps up from below. They appear as thin columns with the funnels sucking up water. Waterspouts can vary in size from a few feet to more than a mile in height, and from a few feet to hundreds of feet wide. These water twisters can move anywhere from 3 to 130 kilometres per hour (km/hr). Winds within the waterspout can spiral around at 97-195 km/hr. Waterspouts, like their land counterparts, can pick up and transport some interesting objects. They have sent showers of tadpoles in New York, and even toads in France. One in Providence, Rhode Island, rained fish down on the people, who promptly collected and sold them! -Jean For a video of a waterspout, see here: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/…/tornado…/water-spouts/

This is a waterspout accompanied by a lighting strike, photographed over Lake Okeechobee in Florida. A sister of the tornado, waterspouts are generally less powerful. They occur when high layers of cool air blow across a body of water while warm moist air sweeps up from below. They appear as thin columns with the funnels sucking up water. Waterspouts can vary in size from a few feet to more than a mile in height, and from a few feet to hundreds of feet wide. These water twisters can move anywhere from 2 to 80 miles an hour. Winds within the waterspout can spiral around at 60-120 miles an hour. Waterspouts, like their land counterparts, can pick up and transport some interesting objects. They have sent showers of tadpoles in New York, and even toads in France. One in Providence, Rhode Island, rained fish down on the people, who promptly collected and sold them! -Jean For a video of a waterspout, see here: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tornadoes/water-spouts/ Photo courtesy of Fred K. Smith,

In this phenomenal capture by Roberto Giudici, we see four waterspouts over the Adriatic Sea. A sister of the tornado, waterspouts are generally less powerful. They occur when high layers of cool air blow across a body of water while warm moist air sweeps up from below. They appear as thin columns with the funnels sucking up water. Waterspouts can vary in size from a few feet to more than a mile in height, and from a few feet to hundreds of feet wide. These water twisters can move anywhere from 2 to 80 miles an hour. Winds within the waterspout can spiral around at 60-120 miles an hour. Waterspouts, like their land counterparts, can pick up and transport some interesting objects. They have sent showers of tadpoles in New York, and even toads in France. One in Providence, Rhode Island, rained fish down on the people, who promptly collected and sold them! -Jean For a video of a waterspout, see here: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/environment-natural-disasters/tornadoes/water-spouts/

Waterspouts over Lake Michigan. These watery tornadoes don't just occur at sea, but over any large body of water subject to supercell thunderstorms. We did a post explaining their formation some months back at http://tinyurl.com/qhbd8qv. Loz Image credit: Kevin Poirier/AP