Waterspout

[Island Time 1,235]

Pretty good footage! 

[AJ Oliver 154]

that is a scary one - to me it looks like the violent winds at the base are much stronger than usual. Would not like to be close to that bad boy. 

 

mostly, waterspouts are not very destructive - I got a good look at this one, which was huge, likely a mile high - but not much damage 

 

 

when spouts hit land they sometimes transform into tornadoes, but that is rare 

 

I've never heard of a spout that was more than an F-1, but there is a first time for everything

[Addem 95]

I saw a waterspout while out on Tauranga Harbour about 10 years ago. I was quite scary until I realized it was moving away. Definitely a Brown trouser Momento I think they tend to head for land - the coriolis effect.

[wheels 543]

 

when spouts hit land they sometimes transform into tornadoes, but that is rare

AJ, a Water Spout and Tornado are the same thing. Just that when over water, they call them a water spout. They can also be very big over water too. Just not as commonly seen and it does also depend on the surface temperature of land and sea. Land of course, can have a lot more heat after a hot sunny day. Most of the US Mid West Tornadoes spawn out of Thunderstorms towards the end of the day after it has been very hot. For us here in NZ, it is sometimes thunderstorms and sometimes very warm and high moisture content norwest storms coming on to our West coast. This is often when we get the Waterspouts and often they do a bit of damage when they move onto the land.