Tampa Waterspout Video Goes Viral: Tornado Wrecks Home Then Dies (PHOTO)
A Tampa waterspout has been caught on video, amazing viewers this week, and going viral on the Internet.
The amazing video of the waterspout shows it making its way across the water before eventually moving onto the land and becoming a tornado.
The tornado went on to cause significant damage to one home, but thankfully once it was on land it quickly started to lose power and its destructive forces were dampened.
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Waterspouts are not an uncommon occurrence in the Tampa Bay area, and the WTSP team has reportedly tracked at least five over the past month. The sight of waterspouts forming tends to shock many people, but experts at the news channel have said that they are usually not as dangerous as they tend to look.
During the warm season a waterspout will have wind speeds of about 50 mph, but they tend to weaken very quickly once they make landfall.
However, during the cold season waterspouts can be much stronger, and have reached around 100 mph and have been known to be accompanied by huge thunderstorms.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has described, "Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water. They are associated with severe thunderstorms, and are often accompanied by high winds and seas, large hail, and frequent dangerous lightning."
It adds, "Fair weather waterspouts usually form along the dark flat base of a line of developing cumulus clouds. This type of waterspout is generally not associated with thunderstorms… Fair weather waterspouts form in light wind conditions so they normally move very little."
Here is a video of the recent waterspout that appeared in the Tampa area:
