Great lakes Waterspouts

[tom hanlon]

The HWO for Western Michigan makes note of the strong cold front coming through and the potential for waterspouts on the great lakes.

I always mean to chase these but the forecast is always so sketchy that I never head out to the lakes.

Basically you look for a strong temperature differential. Warm lake cold air and you have the potential for waterspouts. Saw some nice dust devils in Wyoming/Nebraska this summer. Same deal, warm ground, cooler air. The dust devils got me thinking about waterspouts.

Anyone chase them, or have seen them on the great lakes ??

--
Tom Hanlon

 

[Kevin Bowman]

ive saw 2 a few years ago a mile or 2 off the downtown Chicago lakeshore

 

[Kurt Hulst]

I have always wanted to try and see a watersput over the lake but have not. I live in Grand Rapids about 25-35 miles from Lake MI. Though today i saw the most awesome but short lived Dust Devil today. so cool

 

[rdale]

I wouldn't ever make a special trip just to do it, they are far from good enough to be able to predict that. But if some get spotted, you usually have time to make it to the shoreline.

 

[Dan Robinson]

http://vos.noaa.gov/MWL/dec_04/waterspout.shtml

http://www.pbase.com/kjosker/image/25271733

http://www.walleyecentral.com/photopost/sh...&sort=1&cat=all

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/images/wtrspout.gif

Those would make for a nice fall expedition.

This winter, though, I'm making some trips to the mountains for snow devils. Last April I saw an awesome outbreak of these things, some big/intense enough to do damage if they hit something weak. I had passengers so I couldn't chase or stop for very long to shoot video.

 

[Andrew Khan]

ive saw 2 a few years ago a mile or 2 off the downtown Chicago lakeshore

Kevin, where did you see them, and when? Was it across from the Navy Pier, or across from downtown chicago Lake MI, or across from the new botany garden museum in downtown Chicago. I'm also thinking of a place, that is really near Navy Pier, it's a new entertainment feature in chicago....

How do you predict waterspouts? They are normally spawned by a 'normal' thunderstorm, that does not have stormscale tornadic rotation and usually aren't to obvious on radar. So how can you chase/be there when they happen?

 

[rdale]

Waterspouts do NOT come from thunderstorms. They come from cumulus clouds, of the non-precipitating variety.

 

[Greg Stumpf]

Waterspouts do NOT come from thunderstorms. They come from cumulus clouds, of the non-precipitating variety.

Sure they can. I've seen Lake Ontario spout with lightning many times.

 

[Andrew Khan]

I have seen them (not in person), come from thunderstorm towers/clouds..that one of my comrades took...but they can variate...some can form from an actual supercell that forms overwater it would actually be a tornado, and then they can form normal thunderstorms/towering cumulus'. Rdale, how can they form from just plain cumulus cloud cover...and usually normal cumulus clouds don't have precipitation (Rain/Hail) to give off.

 

[Ben Leitschuh]

I'd also like to know more about this topic. Can anyone link some research or good articles concerning waterspouts on the lakes? I have lived a mile from Lake Michigan (north Chicago burbs) for about 20 years and have never seen one. I have a feeling that there's more luck than anything else involved with spotting them.

 

[mikegeukes]

I have only witness 1 waterspout on Lake Michigan,
then again, I am not looking for them either.

Some llinks:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/apx/spotter/guide/wspout.htm
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/apx/waterspouts.shtml
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/alma...02/alm02oct.htm
http://www.weathernotebook.org/transcripts.../2005/08/15.php

Mike

 

[rdale]

"Waterspouts do NOT come from thunderstorms. They come from cumulus clouds, of the non-precipitating variety."

Sorry - hate when I generalize... A large majority of Great Lakes spouts do not come from thunderstorms ;>

"ome can form from an actual supercell that forms overwater it would actually be a tornado,"

Right - that's a tornado. We're talking waterspouts here...

"and usually normal cumulus clouds don't have precipitation (Rain/Hail) to give off."

Right. Rarely do waterspouts come with any precip.

http://tinyurl.com/8sowz

 

[Andrew Khan]

How can just a 'normal' plain old cumulus cloud prduce intense rotation like in a waterspout...for that matter, how can it produce any rotation at all...just a plain Cumulus Humulus we're talking about here...are we on the same page, Rdale? Are Waterspouts reported as tornadoes to the NWS?

 

[rdale]

The same way cold-air funnels can come from "plain old" clouds too... The rotation is frequently "not intense" although I don't know what ratio of "strong" to "weak" would be...

 

[Andrew Khan]

Cold air funnels can (and do) come from plain old general thunderstorms (not supercells), I've never heard of any rotation or funnel coming out of a cumulus cloud....can you show me a documentation of this, please?