Water Spouts

[concoures]

Hello John,

On my way in to work this morning the radio meteorologist stated that Lake Huron and Lake Erie were prime for water spouts this morning. I found it strange that the meteorologist did not say anything about Tornado watches in and around the land portions bordering these lakes. With that being said other than a water spout being over water and a tornado being over land is there any other differences in the atmosphere that makes water spout easier to form? Thanks John

Carl

 

[snowdance]

This was yesterday 9/12/13 on Lake Michigan near Kenosha, WI.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...uts-spin-over-lake-michigan-near-wis/2807345/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57602706/water-spouts-spotted-over-lake-michigan-in-wis/

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LtYOelT1Gdk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[jmag]

the guy on nbc5 in chicago predicted this for lake michigan the day before too. didnt happen in chicago, but kenosha isnt that far away

 

[jd]

Hi Carl

Water spouts and tornadoes are not the same thing. Water spouts form when the air several thousand feet above the lake is much colder than the water. That instability causes the air to rise very rapidly and sometimes a vortex (water spout) forms. If the system moves over land, it looses its source of energy (water/air temp difference) and dies off. So thus pose little to no threats to areas over land. Tornadoes form as part of a severe thunderstorm and can form over land or water or move from one to the other.

-John

 

[j1cousin]

I am curious to know if waterspouts pack massive winds like tornados. They look to be the size of a tornado and spin like a tornado, but for some reason there seems to be very little information about waterspouts out there. Is there anymore information you can give about these waterspouts as far as wind speeds go?

 

[jd]

In general, waterspouts are weaker than tornadoes. In general. This is because their respective parent cloud responsible for their development are different. Tornadoes form from large supercell thunderstorms, which are very strong and have lots of energy. Waterspouts can form from relatively weak clouds and are born more from the difference between the relatively warm water temps and colder air above it.

With that said, there can be waterspouts that are stronger than a weak tornado and a tornado that moves out over a body of water can be called a waterspout.

-John

 

[HardwaterHoosier]

this freaked my wife out. Our house sits 1/2 mile behind the water tower.
Evidently this was a land spout. But it may as well have been an F5 with the way she and a lot of other freaked out.
October 2, 2013