David Draun
EF5
After tonight's spectacular waterspout roped out, I called the NWS Ruskin, FL to report the storm. It turns out that 40 people reported it. The funnel developed and touched down over Estero Bay and crossed over the island with the resorts and hotels. And there was definitely sand being lifted into the vortex, but the NWS will not call it a tornado due to the lack of damage and the only ground truth was the rapidly rotating sand cloud underneath the funnel cloud. Dewpoints had mixed out heavily today and it was about 95/60 at the time of touchdown. The condensation funnel didn't become whole until it was over the water due to the high dewpoint depression in the area. That's not important, just interesting. The question is: with ground truth of a debris cloud over land, it is by definition, a tornado, right? NWS Ruskin, FL doesn't seem to think so.