![]() ![]() Here’s an edited excerpt, with all the “good” parts left in: The story is called “A Waterspout” and was written by Edward Sylvester Ellis. To my delight, I rediscovered the story while researching this article. It was great account, but I long ago forgot the author’s name. Then I came across a wonderful story of an actual encounter of a ship with a waterspout written by a turn-of-the-century author. (There are some reports of fair weather waterspouts with winds well over 100 mph.) I imagined it be a little like experiencing a mini-tornado, a little scary but not too dangerous. Since most waterspouts rotate slower than weakest tornadoes (about 67 mph or less), I wondered what it would be like to sail into one of them with a boat. Fair weather waterspouts are thought to be start as vortexes formed by horizontal wind shear at the water’s surface that spin upward because of the updraft at the face of a developing cumulus clouds or thunderstorms. This doesn’t mean a tornado might not first be visible by swirls on the ground it just means those ground swirls are created by a column of air descending out of the cloud, whether or not the descending column is visible. ![]() They start to develop on the surface of the water and then spin their way up into the cloud, whereas a tornadic waterspout, being a tornado, develops downward. Here’s an example of a tornadic waterspout-a tornado with its associated wall cloud that moved over lake Michigan:įair weather waterspouts, as the name implies, typically form during calm, warm weather along the base of developing cumulus clouds. Tornadoes almost always appear in a rotating area of clouds that extends beneath a severe thunderstorm called a wall cloud. Some “waterspouts” are simply tornadoes that form or move over water and are thus are called “tornadic waterspouts.” Like any tornado, they form in violent thunderstorms called supercells. They are so beautiful and so much more ethereal than their more violent brethren, tornadoes. If it was powerful and exciting, I loved it! And maybe because I lived in the desert, waterspouts were especially fascinating to me. In my weather reading, I was always fascinated by the extremes of weather-thunderstorms, tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes, hail storms-you name it. Then come home, climb in my favorite chair, and read for hours in air-conditioned comfort while the desert heat beat down outside. In the heat of summer, I’d go to the Las Vegas library and check out 12 or more books. So, as a young boy, I used to read all the books I could on weather. In my post “Escape from New England-a weather nut’s confession,” I describe how I looked forward to the big summer push of moisture from Baja, Mexico, that gave us our July and August thunderstorms in Las Vegas.īut aside from those summer thunderstorms, weather was pretty boring in Vegas, although the summer heat was fierce. He said they can, however, monitor cumulonimbus clouds through radar images throughout Malaysia, as these heavy clouds are the early signs of the mini-tornados.If you’ve visited my other nature blog, Berkeley, Naturally! you know weather is one of my great passions. He also said they tend to strike coastal areas such as Bintulu and Miri in Sarawak, Labuan and western Sabah.Īmbun added that it was quite challenging for MetMalaysia to forecast landspouts as they tend to occur on a smaller scale and have short lifespans of an hour, at most. Last month, a landspout struck parts of Ipoh and caused extensive damage to houses.Įarlier, it was reported that The Malaysian Meteorological Department's Centre for Meteorological Instrumentation and Atmospheric Science senior director Ambun Dindang said several states on the west coast of the peninsula as well as Sabah and Sarawak, could possibly experience landspouts (or waterspouts) as well. Sabah Meteorological Department director Amir Zudi Hashim said they were unable to verify whether the phenomenon was recorded on Friday and at the mentioned location. Sabah Fire and Rescue Department officials said there were no reports received over the waterspout but they would be on standby for any eventuality. Users commented with messages saying it was "scary" and called for others to "be careful" and "pray for our safety", among others. ![]() Videos of the waterspout went viral on social media and messaging apps. The phenomenon was recorded around 9.30am, and is believed to have occurred in waters off Kg Mampakad and Kg Rosob. KOTA KINABALU: Another waterspout has appeared, this time in waters off Pitas, Sabah, which caused a scare among villagers on Friday (Feb 4). ![]()
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