Waterspout shows up yet again; amuses holidayers

For a third time in 18 years, a ‘waterspout' made a rare occurrence over the seawaters off the southwest coast here on Sunday to the collective amusement and trepidation of a sparse holiday crowd.

While the earlier two editions unfolded off the Kovalam beach, this time it was on view at Shankumughom beach, a little away to the north.

ROTATING COLUMNS

Waterspouts are rotating columns of air similar in appearance to that of the tornado in which a large mass of water rises into a column by the sheer force of prevailing winds.

The spout was found tagged to the base of a large cumulonimbus cloud that had descended downwards to the sea surface.

Mr S. Madhu, a State Government official and an occasional beach-goer, was among those who were on hand to witness the spectacle which was as rare as it was awe-inspiring.

A column of seawater had risen into the evening sky against the background of what was described as ‘fair weather' conditions.

CLEAR SKIES

Mr Madhu told Business Line that the event showed up against the background of clear skies and was visible for 8 to 10 minutes before dark clouds emerging from nowhere buffeted its trunk and base.

The clouds later erupted into thunder, lightning and sharp showers.

Armed with a camera, Mr Madhu got his act together to click away at the phenomenon that was akin to a gymnast tiptoeing on the dance floor. The excitement on the beach even prompted the police and life guards to counsel caution to the onlookers and waved them away from the high tide line.

Meteorological experts said there are two types of waterspouts — tornadic and fair weather. The former, generally the more dangerous of the two, actually forms as a tornado over the land and drifts out to sea.

Fair weather waterspouts are by far the most common, and mostly form over the open sea, or large lakes, in the late summer or autumn when sea temperature is at its highest. When a slow moving tornado begins to form over water, it can spin down from the clouds and develop a funnel of water and spray. The spray is generally fresh water, formed through condensation and the rest of the water is whatever has been sucked up.

Spouts can develop over the ocean and move over the land. It is then they are then called tornadoes, which can be dangerous and has caused extensive damage to trees and buildings as well as overturned caravans in coastal communities.

Once on the land, they dissipate fairly quickly. On the ocean, however, they can last much longer.

Waterspouts are a fairly common meteorological phenomenon, and are often referred to as tornadoes over the sea.

Though rare in the Kerala seas, they are known to occur frequently in the Bay of Bengal, off the West Bengal coast.

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