Waterspout
Chasing |
Florida
Keys - Aug. 2007 |
In August, 2007 I drove from
Canada to Florida to chase waterspouts in the Florida Keys. Waterspouts
are similar to tornadoes over water but are typically not associated
with a violent supercell thunderstorm the way regular tornadoes
are. They start as a small circulation over warm water and that
circulation gets stretched up by a rapidly developing cumulus
cloud. A mature waterspout will have a funnel cloud descending
from the cloud base to the water and an associated spray ring
on the water where the most violent rotation is. Waterspouts can
be a hazard to boat traffic and they can even come ashore, causing
damage similar to a weak tornado.
I chose to attempt to chase them
using every means possible in my limited time there so we chased
by land in a car, at sea in a small boat and even in the air in
a small plane. I did manage to document several waterspouts during
the 2 week chase, some not pictured here. There were also many
incredible views to be seen in this beautiful part of the world.
A mature waterspout near Tavernier
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Twin waterspouts off Key West
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Some of the views from around
Sugarloaf Key:
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Chasing waterspouts by boat -
The 16 foot "No Fear"
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Attempting to chase waterspouts
using a small plane...
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My new chase vehicle...A Cessna. Although
we weren't able to observe any waterspouts while in the air, we
were able to get up underneath a very healthy updraft that had
a lot of potential and became a fully mature thunderstorm. The
flight also provided a great view of the Florida Keys as we circled
around. Once the heavy rains started, we knew that our 'spout
chances had ended for the day.
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