Waterspouts Florida Keys.

[Jim Leonard]

Here is a quick video of my encounter with a couple of waterspout events in the Florida Keys, the island crosser was on July 16, 2008 on Long Key, the other was on Sugar Loaf Key on August 5, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDaC8SSX_yQ

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

That's a good one Jim. I especially like the second half.

 

[Jason Harris]

Great video--wonderful to see that there are two of them for a while and how the main spout you even catch the sound of splashing as it approaches; I liked how you said "keep it down, I want to get some of the audio"! So, how strong do you think the water-level winds were for that? Seems like the strength varied. Maybe a range of 50-70? Was the storm that produced this a shower formation or a t-storm? How did you pick that particular day? What was promising about the conditions?

 

[Jeff Piotrowski]

Great Video!!

Jim Great video love the two at the same time.

 

[Shane Adams]

I agree Jim, that one that came inland sure looked a lot more intense than your typical 50-60mph waterspout. Great video.

 

[Jim Leonard]

Great video--wonderful to see that there are two of them for a while and how the main spout you even catch the sound of splashing as it approaches; I liked how you said "keep it down, I want to get some of the audio"! So, how strong do you think the water-level winds were for that? Seems like the strength varied. Maybe a range of 50-70? Was the storm that produced this a shower formation or a t-storm? How did you pick that particular day? What was promising about the conditions?

Jason.
Always when your about to get the best part of the storm on camera Joe public shows up asking a bunch of questions. There were five of them piling out of their car and I thought someone was going to walk in front of the camera. At one point I had to go right to the seawall to avoid that possibility. My best guess on the wind speed is maybe 70 to 80mph. Joe Golden many years ago was able to get speeds as high as 150mph and higher with some of these type of south Florida waterspouts.
The cloud line tops were probably around the 20to 25 thousand ft. range as I did not observe any lightning during this event. I just happed to observe a decent looking cu line just 5 miles down from my place so I grabbed the camcorder and drove to the next island south.
So far this has been a slower than average season so far but the quality has been high. The next two months are usually best as the Sahara dust and dry air usually stops coming across later in August and September.

 

[Mike Kovalchick]

Jason.
Always when your about to get the best part of the storm on camera Joe public shows up asking a bunch of questions. There were five of them piling out of their car and I thought someone was going to walk in front of the camera. At one point I had to go right to the seawall to avoid that possibility. My best guess on the wind speed is maybe 70 to 80mph. Joe Golden many years ago was able to get speeds as high as 150mph and higher with some of these type of south Florida waterspouts.
The cloud line tops were probably around the 20to 25 thousand ft. range as I did not observe any lightning during this event. I just happed to observe a decent looking cu line just 5 miles down from my place so I grabbed the camcorder and drove to the next island south.
So far this has been a slower than average season so far but the quality has been high. The next two months are usually best as the Sahara dust and dry air usually stops coming across later in August and September.

You mention Dr. Golden: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/newpage/research/SPOUT.html

He reported that the Florida Keys can have as many as 500 spouts in single season..the most in the world. August is the "primary peak" time.

He lists some pretty specific criteria on the the type of setups to look for spouts.

If I don't mange to catch a spout here in Michigan..I may just have to spend some time in the Keys..clearly the hunting grounds for them are far better where you are!

 

[Jason Persoff]

As always, Jim--I love your ability to capture these events so well. I am still waterspout-less for the past 11 years, but living in NE FL, we just don't get the same "synoptic" setups. I once again need to eventually make the jaunt 8 hours to visit you. Thanks for posting these videos!

 

[Linda Kitchen]

Jim, Beautiful video!! I'm so envious. I've yet to see a waterspout.