3 T O R N A D O E S AT S E A

Though its traumatic to encounter a tropical waterspout, they re hardly a rare occurrence.
BY SCOTT NEUMAN

cruisingworld.com

P repare yourself for what to do when you catch one spinning off the horizon .

WEATHER TIP

Always move at right angles to the

apparent path of a waterspout. The
funnel of the spout will tilt away
from the accompanying showers,
which is the direction its moving.

SAFETY AT SEA

ith barely enough breeze to fill the

sails on Symbiosis, our Tayana 37, we
ghosted south through the Caicos Passage,
heading toward the Dominican Republic. A
wall of cumulus clouds stretched to the east
beside us, looking only slightly menacing.
Suddenly, a dark funnel descended from
the sky several miles ahead. My pulse
quickened. I put my wife, Noi, on the helm

and went forward to douse the main.

The next several minutes were spent in
full-throttle maneuvers aimed at skirting
the waterspout, which had thickened
somewhat and taken on a more ominous
vortex shape. Ultimately, our efforts
proved unnecessary, and the funnel

disappeared into the squall line as quickly

as it had formed.
At the time, what we experienced
seemed like a freak occurrence. Later, as
I did more research, I discovered that
tornadoes at sea are not at all unusual and
are actually quite common in tropical

Cool air plus warm water can spell waterspout. Tornadic waterspouts thrive
on warm, humid conditions that would normally spawn thunderstorms.

POLINA SHUVAEVA/ISTOCKPHOTO

november/december 2016

98

capital is Key West, where 100 to 500 of

them form each year from about mid-May
to late September within a 35-nauticalmile radius of the city. Other waterspout
hot spots include the Bahamas and the
Caribbean.
Most are fair-weather waterspouts,
tending to be relatively small. These are
usually short-lived, lasting no more than
about 12 minutes from formation to
demise. By contrast, tornadic waterspouts
are larger and can live up to 30 minutes,
Golden says.
The typical waterspout is between 10
and 20 meters in diameter, but the largest
of them can be 100 meters across. Those
big ones are almost invariably going to be
the most dangerous, he says.
Their destructive power is measured
with the same yardstick used for landbased tornadoes: the Enhanced Fujita, or
EF, scale. Waterspouts are often weaker
than their land-based cousins, ranging
from EF0 to occasionally as high as EF2.
Thats still plenty dangerous, Golden
notes. At the top end, wind speeds can
reach more than 175 knots.
For fair-weather waterspouts to form,

all you need is sufficiently cool air over

warm water. Tornadic waterspouts
thrive on warm, humid conditions that
would normally produce thunderstorms,
explains Wade Szilagyi, director of the
Toronto-based International Centre for
Waterspout Research.
Larger weather systems do not necessarily have to be present, Szilagyi says.
However, cold fronts and squall lines are
favorable for waterspout development.
Golden says large waterspouts usually
occur in a slightly disturbed environment.
For example, he says, there may be a
weak tropical wave thats affecting the
Keys. The largest waterspouts that I have
documented occurred in those conditions.
Waterspouts develop most often from
about noon until late afternoon or early
evening, going through several phases as
they do so. They start out as a dark spot
on the water, distinguishable from the
air but not easily noticed from the deck
of a sailboat. The first feature noticeable
from sea level is a swirling column
of wind-driven surface water known
as a spray ring, which precedes the
distinctive funnel vortex. Winds at the
base of the waterspout, even the smallest
ones, reach at least 45 knots, Golden
says. Any sailing craft that is caught in
even a smaller waterspout is in significant
danger, he adds.
It isnt the winds that are going to hurt
you; its the flying debris from your own
boat, Golden says. I have seen reports
from cargo ships in the channel between
Taiwan and mainland China that have
been hit broadside and have had large
containers thrown around the decks,
doing a lot of damage.
What should you do if you encounter
a waterspout at sea, as we did aboard
Symbiosis?
Always move at right angles to the
apparent direction of a waterspout,
Szilagyi advises.
But determining the direction of
travel takes a bit of skill. If you hold
your index finger in front of the funnel
and its looming larger, sail or motor at
90 degrees, either right or left, Szilagyi
says. Keep in mind the relation of the
spout to any neighboring showers (at the
waters surface). The funnel will tilt away
from the showers thats the direction
its moving.
Waterspouts speed of motion 10
to 15 knots is slower than land-based
tornadoes, but still much faster than
most of us can sail or motor. So dont try
to outrun a waterspout along its axis of
forward motion.
If you should be so unlucky as to find
yourself in imminent contact with a
waterspout, you could be dismasted, and

99
november/december 2016

waters. In fact, we were to encounter two

more of them weeks later, off the south
coast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin
Islands.
Even so, I had no idea of which
conditions are conducive to waterspout
formation, how dangerous they are,
how long they typically last, or, most
importantly, how to avoid them when
sailing. None of the fellow cruisers I
spoke with could help either. So I decided
to call a few experts to get their thoughts
on the subject.
Joseph Golden is a retired National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
meteorologist who is said to know
more about waterspouts than anyone
else in the world. Beginning in 1967,he
helpeddocumenthundredsof
waterspouts in the Florida Keys over
roughly a decade-long period, even taking
measurements inside them from the
cockpit of a ruggedizedWorld War II
training vessel.
While incidents of damage and loss of
life at sea from waterspouts are rare, there
are occasional documented examples.
Golden says that waterspouts can be
found virtually all over the world. Their

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any loose objects on deck would become

airborne missiles, Golden says. He
suggests going below deck to avoid flying
debris, but notes that theres a real risk of
capsize, especially on a smaller boat.
Lastly, Golden warns against the
foolhardy behavior hes witnessed
WIND

With speeds of 10 to 15 knots,

waterspouts move slower than landbased tornadoes, but are still faster
than most cruisers can sail or motor.
Never try to outrun a waterspout
along its axis of forward motion.

COLD AIR

Warm water, in
the 80s, is key
to waterspout
formation.

cruisingworld.com

WARM AIR

november/december 2016

100

increasingly often on social media.

Some people in small craft have
purposely penetrated waterspouts and
managed to come out of it alive. Thats an
extremely risky practice, he says.
If they do it again, they are going to get
caught in a big one and could suffer very
major damage or even loss of life.
Scott Neuman is on sabbatical from his job
at National Public Radio as he and his wife,
Noi, sail the Caribbean aboard Symbiosis, the
couples Tayana 37. Follow their journey via
their blog (svsymbiosis.blogspot.com).

Light winds from

E and NE help
spin updrafts
of air, forming
cumulus clouds.

3
Rotation begins as warm air
converges on the column of
rising air.

Surface winds of 50
knots can produce sea
spray at the base of the
waterspout.

A dark spot on
the water is the
first sign o f a
waterspout.

WAV E S

Waterspouts form when warm water and cool air are stirred by light winds
from the east or northeast. In the United States, the Florida Keys are a hotbed
for spouts, which are especially likely to occur in humid summer months.

ILLUSTRATION BY TIM BARKER

WEATHER TIP