waterspout

Though the majority of waterspouts occur in the tropics, they can seasonally appear in temperate areas throughout the world, and are common across the western coast of Europe as well as the British Isles and several areas of the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea. They are not restricted to saltwater; many have been reported on lakes and rivers including the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.{{cite web|author=Canadian Television News Staff|date=23 July 2008|title=Rare waterspout forms in Montreal during storm|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/rare-waterspout-forms-in-montreal-during-storm-1.310695|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211143838/https://www.ctvnews.ca/rare-waterspout-forms-in-montreal-during-storm-1.310695 |archive-date=11 February 2022 |access-date=21 June 2009|website=CTV News}} They are fairly common on the Great Lakes during late summer and early fall, with a record 66+ waterspouts reported over just a seven-day period in 2003.

Waterspouts are more frequent within {{cvt|100|km|mi|sigfig=1}} from the coast than farther out at sea. They are common along the southeast U.S. coast, especially off southern Florida and the Keys, and can happen over seas, bays, and lakes worldwide. Approximately 160 waterspouts are currently reported per year across Europe, with the Netherlands reporting the most at 60, followed by Spain and Italy at 25, and the United Kingdom at 15. They are most common in late summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, September has been pinpointed as the prime month of formation.{{cite magazine

|url= https://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/dec_04/waterspout.shtml

|title= The Great Waterspout Outbreak of 2003

|access-date=25 October 2006

|author= Wade Szilagyi

|date= December 2004

|magazine= Mariners Weather Log

|publisher=NOAA

|volume = 48

|issue = 3

|url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051021225733/https://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/dec_04/waterspout.shtml

|archive-date=21 October 2005

}}

Waterspouts are also frequently observed off the east coast of Australia, with several being described by Joseph Banks during the voyage of the Endeavour in 1770.{{Cite book| last = Banks| first = Joseph| title = The Endeavour Journal of Sir Joseph Banks, 1768–1771| publisher = University of Sydney Library| year = 1997}}{{Cite news|last = Gibson|first = Jano|title = Waterspout off Sydney|newspaper = The Sydney Morning Herald|date = 14 June 2007|url = https://www.smh.com.au/national/waterspout-off-sydney-20070614-gdqdwu.html|access-date =23 January 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211030226/https://www.smh.com.au/national/waterspout-off-sydney-20070614-gdqdwu.html |archive-date=11 February 2021}}

File:Great Lakes Waterspouts.jpg|A family of four waterspouts seen on Lake Huron, 9 September 1999

File:Quadruple Waterspout Summerland Key June 5, 2009.jpg|Four waterspouts seen in the Florida Keys, 5 June 2009

File:CSIRO ScienceImage 7790 A waterspout over the Tasman Sea.jpg|Waterspout in the Tasman Sea, 29 January 2009

File:Waterspout 3 (14276517300).jpg|Waterspout in Adelaide, South Australia, June 20, 2014.

Waterspouts exist on a microscale, where their environment is less than two kilometers in width. The cloud from which they develop can be as innocuous as a moderate cumulus, or as great as a supercell. While some waterspouts are strong and tornadic in nature, most are much weaker and caused by different atmospheric dynamics. They normally develop in moisture-laden environments as their parent clouds are in the process of development, and it is theorized they spin as they move up the surface boundary from the horizontal shear near the surface, and then stretch upwards to the cloud once the low-level shear vortex aligns with a developing cumulus cloud or thunderstorm. Some weak tornadoes, known as landspouts, have been shown to develop in a similar manner.{{cite web

|url= http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/spoutpre.html

|title= Using the WSR-88D to Predict East Central Florida Waterspouts

|access-date=25 October 2006

|author1= Choy, Barry K.

|author2= Spratt, Scott M.

|website=srh.noaa.gov

|publisher=NOAA

|url-status=dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061005182710/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/spoutpre.html

|archive-date = 5 October 2006}}

More than one waterspout can occur simultaneously in the same vicinity. In 2012, as many as nine simultaneous waterspouts were reported on Lake Michigan in the United States. In May 2021, at least five simultaneous waterspouts were filmed near Taree, off the northern coast of New South Wales, Australia.{{cite news|url=https://7news.com.au/weather/astonishing-moment-five-waterspouts-are-seen-at-the-same-time-off-nsw-coast-c-2756336|title=Astonishing moment FIVE waterspouts are seen at the same time off NSW coast|website=7news.com.au|date=4 May 2021|author=Elizabeth Daoud |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211143246/https://7news.com.au/weather/astonishing-moment-five-waterspouts-are-seen-at-the-same-time-off-nsw-coast-c-2756336 |archive-date=11 February 2022}}

File:Three waterspouts Kijkduin.jpg in the Netherlands, 27 August 2006]]

Waterspouts that are not associated with a rotating updraft of a supercell thunderstorm are known as "non-tornadic" or "fair-weather" waterspouts. By far the most common type of waterspout, these occur in coastal waters and are associated with dark, flat-bottomed, developing convective cumulus towers. Fair-weather waterspouts develop and dissipate rapidly, having life cycles shorter than 20 minutes. They usually rate no higher than EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, generally exhibiting winds of less than {{convert|30|m/s|mi/h km/h|abbr=on|0}}.{{cite web|author=National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office |location=Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI |date=30 April 2008|title=Threat Definitions for Waterspouts|url=http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/?n=threat-definitions-waterspouts|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109051858/http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/?n=threat-definitions-waterspouts|archive-date=9 November 2012|access-date=27 August 2009|publisher=National Weather Service Central Region Headquarters |website=crh.noaa.gov}}

They are most frequently seen in tropical and sub-tropical climates, with upwards of 400 per year observed in the Florida Keys. They typically move slowly, if at all, since the cloud to which they are attached is horizontally static, being formed by vertical convective action rather than the subduction/adduction interaction between colliding fronts.{{cite web

|url= http://www.srh.noaa.gov/key/HTML/spottertraining/index.html

|title= Basic Spotter Training Version 1.2

|date=12 September 2002

|access-date=21 July 2008

|author= National Weather Service

|location=Key West, FL

|website= srh.noaa.gov

|pages= 4–24

|publisher=NOAA

|url-status=dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071009082237/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/key/HTML/spottertraining/index.html |archive-date = 9 October 2007}}

Fair-weather waterspouts are very similar in both appearance and mechanics to landspouts, and largely behave as such if they move ashore.

File:Ocean Today - Waterspouts 5stages.webm

There are five stages to a fair-weather waterspout life cycle. Initially, a prominent circular, light-colored disk appears on the surface of the water, surrounded by a larger dark area of indeterminate shape. After the formation of these colored disks on the water, a pattern of light- and dark-colored spiral bands develops from the dark spot on the water surface. Then, a dense annulus of sea spray, called a "cascade", appears around the dark spot with what appears to be an eye. Eventually, the waterspout becomes a visible funnel from the water surface to the overhead cloud. The spray vortex can rise to a height of several hundred feet or more, and often creates a visible wake and an associated wave train as it moves. Finally, the funnel and spray vortex begin to dissipate as the inflow of warm air into the vortex weakens, ending the waterspout's life cycle.{{cite web|url=https://www.weather.gov/apx/waterspout |title=Waterspouts |author=Bruce B. Smith |date=22 February 2007 |access-date=21 March 2021 |publisher=National Weather Service Central Region Headquarters |website=weather.gov |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407121247/https://www.weather.gov/apx/waterspout |archive-date=7 April 2019

}}

File:Punta Gorda waterspout.jpg, caused by a severe thunderstorm, 15 July 2005]]

"Tornadic waterspouts", also accurately referred to as "tornadoes over water", are formed from mesocyclones in a manner essentially identical to land-based tornadoes in connection with severe thunderstorms, but simply occurring over water.{{cite web|url=http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/ghwo/waterspout_levels.html|title=Graphical Hazardous Weather Outlook: Waterspout Threat|author=National Weather Service Forecast Office |location=Melbourne, FL |access-date=21 June 2009|date=25 January 2007|publisher=Southern Region Headquarters | website=srh.noaa.gov |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051219191304/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/ghwo/waterspout_levels.html |archive-date = 19 December 2005}} A tornado which travels from land to a body of water would also be considered a tornadic waterspout.{{cite journal|title=The 12 July 1995 Pinellas County, Florida, Tornado/Waterspout|journal=Weather and Forecasting |volume = 15|issue=1 |date=February 2000|pages=122–134|author1=Waylon G. Collins |author2=Charles H. Paxton |author3=Joseph H. Golden |doi=10.1175/1520-0434(2000)015<0122:TJPCFT>2.0.CO;2|bibcode=2000WtFor..15..122C |doi-access=free }} Since the vast majority of mesocyclonic thunderstorms in the United States occur in land-locked areas, true tornadic waterspouts are correspondingly rarer than their fair-weather counterparts in that country. However, in some areas, such as the Adriatic, Aegean and Ionian Seas,{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwPIULKDikY |title=Rare: Waterspout tornado came ashore in Palermo, Sicily, Italy |date=6 August 2020 |work=Disasters News channel |via=YouTube |access-date=6 August 2020 |archive-date=29 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200829213535/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwPIULKDikY&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live }} tornadic waterspouts can make up half of the total number.{{cite journal|title=Waterspouts of the Adriatic, Ionian and Aegean Sea and their meteorological environment|journal=Journal of Atmospheric Research |volume=83|issue=2–4|pages=542–557|author1=Michalis V. Sioutasa |author2=Alexander G. Keul |name-list-style=amp |date=February 2007|doi=10.1016/j.atmosres.2005.08.009|bibcode = 2007AtmRe..83..542S }}

=== Snowspout ===

A winter waterspout, also known as an icespout, an ice devil, or a snowspout, is a rare instance of a waterspout forming under the base of a snow squall.{{cite news

|url= http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw03/0414waterspouts.htm

|title= Waterspouts

|date= 14 April 2003

|publisher= SUNY Buffalo

|access-date=21 July 2008

|newspaper= The Buffalo News

|url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080401084334/http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw03/0414waterspouts.htm

|archive-date=1 April 2008

}}

The term "winter waterspout" is used to differentiate between the common warm season waterspout and this rare winter season event. There are a couple of critical criteria for the formation of a winter waterspout. Very cold temperatures need to be present over a body of water, which is itself warm enough to produce fog resembling steam above the water's surface. Like the more efficient lake-effect snow events, winds focusing down the axis of long lakes enhance wind convergence and increase the likelihood of a winter waterspout developing.{{cite web|url=https://www.weather.gov/media/btv/events/15Jan2009.pdf|title=15 January 2009: Lake Champlain Sea Smoke, Steam Devils, and Waterspouts: Chapters IV and V|author=National Weather Service Forecast Office |location=Burlington, VT |publisher=Eastern Region Headquarters|website=weather.gov|date=3 February 2009|access-date=21 June 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127200634/https://www.weather.gov/media/btv/events/15Jan2009.pdf |archive-date=27 January 2017}}

The terms "snow devil" and "snownado" describe a different phenomenon: a snow vortex close to the surface with no parent cloud, similar to a dust devil.{{cite web|url=https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/snow-devil.html |title=Snow Devil |website=International Cloud Atlas |access-date=11 January 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830094433/https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/snow-devil.html |archive-date=30 August 2022}}

File:Giant Waterspout Filmed by RAF Search and Rescue Crew MOD 45152038.jpg, Wales, by a Royal Air Force Search and Rescue crew, 15 November 2010]]

Waterspouts have long been recognized as serious marine hazards. Stronger waterspouts pose a threat to watercraft, aircraft and people.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1438173/Water-spout-hit-helicopter.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1438173/Water-spout-hit-helicopter.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Water Spout Hit Helicopter|author=Auslan Cramb|work=The Telegraph|date=7 August 2003|access-date=21 June 2009}}{{cbignore}} It is recommended to keep a considerable distance from these phenomena, and to always be on alert through weather reports. The United States National Weather Service will often issue special marine warnings when waterspouts are likely or have been sighted over coastal waters, or tornado warnings when waterspouts are expected to move onshore.{{cite web|url=http://www.srh.weather.gov/mlb/ghwo/waterspout_rules.html|title=Graphical Hazardous Weather Outlook: Waterspout Threat|author=National Weather Service Forecast Office |location=Melbourne, FL |publisher=Southern Region Headquarters|website=srh.weather.gov|date=25 January 2007|access-date=21 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061001031924/http://www.srh.weather.gov/mlb/ghwo/waterspout_rules.html |archive-date = 1 October 2006}}

Incidents of waterspouts causing severe damage and casualties are rare; however, there have been several notable examples. The Malta tornado of 1551 was the earliest recorded occurrence of a deadly waterspout. It struck the Grand Harbour of Valletta, sinking four galleys and numerous boats, and killing hundreds of people.{{cite web|last1=Abela|first1=Joe|title=Claude de la Sengle (1494–1557)|url=http://www.islalocalcouncil.com/promseng.htm#claude|website=islalocalcouncil.com|access-date=11 November 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001090125/http://www.islalocalcouncil.com/promseng.htm#claude |archive-date=1 October 2015}} The 1851 Sicily tornadoes were twin waterspouts that made landfall in western Sicily, ravaging the coast and countryside before ultimately dissipating back again over the sea. In August 2024, a waterspout has been reported by some witnesses of the sinking of the large yacht Bayesian off the coast of Sicily and might have been the cause or an aggravating circumstance.{{Cite news |last=Sampson |first=Eve |date=2024-08-20 |title=A Waterspout Was Seen When a Luxury Yacht Sank. What Is It? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/20/world/europe/waterspout-yacht-sinks-sicily.html |access-date=2024-08-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Seven people died while 15 of 22 were rescued.{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Barbie Latza Nadeau, Christian Edwards, Niamh |date=2024-08-21 |title=Fifth body found in search for those missing from sunken superyacht |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/21/europe/bayesian-yacht-sicily-sinking-cctv-intl/index.html |access-date=2024-08-22 |language=en}}

{{See also|Rain of animals#Fish}}

Depending on how fast the winds from a waterspout are whipping, anything that is within about {{convert|1|yd|cm|round=5|abbr=in|order=flip}} of the surface of the water, including fish of different sizes, frogs, and even turtles, can be lifted into the air.{{cite web | url= http://scienceline.org/2006/09/physics-cosier-rainingfish/ | title= It's Raining Fish: Unusual objects sometimes fall from the sky, courtesy of waterspouts | author = Susan Cosier | date= 17 September 2006 | access-date= 17 May 2015 | work = Scienceline (Physical Science) | publisher = NYU Journalism |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521004213/https://scienceline.org/2006/09/physics-cosier-rainingfish/ |archive-date=21 May 2011}} A waterspout can sometimes suck small animals such as fish out of the water and all the way up into the cloud. Even if the waterspout stops spinning, the fish in the cloud can be carried over land, buffeted up and down and around with the cloud's winds until its currents no longer keep the fish airborne. Depending on how far they travel and how high they are taken into the atmosphere, the fish are sometimes dead by the time they rain down. People as far as {{convert|100|mi|km|abbr=in|order=flip}} inland have experienced raining fish. Fish can also be sucked up from rivers, but raining fish is not a common weather phenomenon.

File:The-philosophy-of-storms-1841-James-Pollard-Espy.jpg

The Szilagyi Waterspout Index (SWI), developed by Canadian meteorologist Wade Szilagyi, is used to predict conditions favorable for waterspout development. The SWI ranges from −10 to +10, where values greater than or equal to zero represent conditions favorable for waterspout development.{{cite conference

|url = https://www.essl.org/ECSS/2009/preprints/O05-14-sziladgyi.pdf

|title = A Waterspout Forecasting Technique

|author = Szilagyi, W.

|date = 15 September 2009

|conference = 5th European Conference on Severe Storms

|conference-url = http://www.essl.org/ECSS/2009/

|book-title = Pre-prints

|location = Landshut – GERMANY

|pages = 129–130

|access-date = 22 April 2023

|archive-date = 1 November 2023

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231101215800/https://www.essl.org/ECSS/2009/preprints/O05-14-sziladgyi.pdf

|url-status = live

}}{{Cite journal |author1 = Sioutas, M. |author2 = Szilagyi, W. |author3 = Keul, A. | year = 2013 | title = Waterspout outbreaks over areas of Europe and North America: Environment and predictability |journal= Atmospheric Research | volume= 123 | pages=167–179|bibcode = 2013AtmRe.123..167S |doi = 10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.09.013 }}

{{Anchor|ICWR}}

The International Centre for Waterspout Research (ICWR) is a non-governmental organization of individuals from around the world who are interested in the field of waterspouts from a research, operational and safety perspective.{{Cite web|title=The International Centre For Waterspout Research (ICWR), "understanding our atmosphere through global cooperation."|url=http://www.icwr.ca|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405224009/http://www.icwr.ca/|archive-date=5 April 2012|access-date=10 December 2011}} Originally a forum for researchers and meteorologists, the ICWR has expanded interest and contribution from storm chasers, the media, the marine and aviation communities and from private individuals.

There was a commonly held belief among sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries that shooting a broadside cannon volley dispersed waterspouts.{{cite book|title=The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure|year= 1750 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZpFAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA154|volume=6–7|page=154}}{{cite book|title=American Journal of Science and Arts|year= 1849|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=02IWAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA266|page=266|publisher=S. Converse}}{{cite book|title=The Adventures of Captain Robert Johnson|year=1810|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBfw0lzqWIcC&pg=PA19|publisher=Thomas Tegg|author=Robert Johnson|page=B2}} Among others, Captain Vladimir Bronevskiy claims that it was a successful technique, having been an eyewitness to the dissipation of a phenomenon in the Adriatic while a midshipman aboard the frigate Venus during the 1806 campaign under Admiral Senyavin.{{cite book|title=Naval Memoirs of Vladimir Brovevskiy |language=ru |year=1837|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wJBDAAAAcAAJ&pg=322|page=322|publisher=Тип. Императорской Росс. Акад.}}

A waterspout has been proposed as a reason for the abandonment of the Mary Celeste.{{cite book |language=en |last1=Begg |first1=Paul |year=2007 |title=Mary Celeste: The Greatest Mystery of the Sea |location=Harlow, England |publisher=Pearson Education |pages=140–146 |isbn=978-1-4058-3621-0}}

{{Portal|Tornadoes|Weather}}

• Fire whirl
• Funnel cloud
• Steam devil
• Tornadogenesis

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Waterspouts}}

• A [http://www-das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/notes/chap07/waterspout.html series of pictures] from the boat Nicorette approaching the NSW south coast tornadic waterspout.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310222751/http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=grr&storyid=3823 Pictures of cold-core waterspouts over Lake Michigan on 30 September 2006]. Archived from [http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=grr&storyid=3823 the original] on 10 March 2007.
• {{cite web|url=https://www.icwr.ca/experimental-great-lakes-waterspout-forecast.php |title=Waterspout forecasts |publisher=International Centre for Waterspout Research}}
• {{cite journal|series=Historical perspective |journal=Scientific American |volume=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ok9AQAAIAAJ&q=sand%20and%20water%20spouts |title=Sand and Water spouts |date=25 December 1880 |issue=26 |page=407|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican12251880-407 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090227155836/http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/035/mwr-035-02-0073b.pdf "A Winter Waterspout"]. Monthly Weather Review, February 1907.

{{Cyclones}}

Category:Severe weather and convection

Category:Tornado

Category:Vortices

Category:Weather hazards

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