TYPES OF WATERSPOUTS

There are 2 main types of Waterspout: Tornadic and Non-Tornadic

• Tornadic waterspouts get their start as true tornadoes. Influenced by winds associated with severe thunderstorms, air rises and rotates on a vertical axis. Tornadic waterspouts are the most powerful and destructive type of waterspout. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning.
• Fair-weather waterspouts or non-tornadic waterspouts, are much more common and in fact these waterspouts are rarely dangerous. The clouds from which they descend are not fast-moving, so fair-weather waterspouts are often static. Fair-weather waterspouts are associated with developing storm systems, but not storms themselves. The waterspouts occur in coastal waters and are associated with dark, flat-bottomed, developing convective cumulus towers. Waterspouts of this type rapidly develop and dissipate, having life cycles shorter than 20 minutes. They are most frequently seen in tropical and sub-tropical climates, with upwards of 400 per year observed in the Florida Keys.