Waterspouts to Spot This Weekend

By Evan Duffey, Meteorologist

September 30, 2012; 9:12AM,EDT

 

 

 Cool air rushing over the Great Lakes this weekend will provide the opportunity for waterspouts to form along the Great Lakes, providing a show for those on the shoreline.

Waterspouts, a colder cousin to tornadoes, form when cool and unstable air moves over a warm body of water. The funnels are generally at the lower end of the Enhanced Fujita Scale, if fast enough to register on it at all. Waterspouts also rarely interact with land, as the water temperature is what drives them.
This weekend an upper-level low pressure system will move into the Great Lakes out of Canada, bringing with it the required cool, unstable air that will provide the first two ingredients for waterspouts.
With lake temperatures well into the 60s still in the lower Great Lakes (Michigan, Erie and Ontario), the third and final ingredient will be in place.
The best chance to see waterspouts this weekend will be Sunday in the eastern Great Lakes when the coolest air hits the region.
While there will be a decent chance to see a waterspout this weekend on the southern Great Lakes, the conditions will not be optimal. For a prolific outbreak to occur, colder air aloft is required.
Along with waterspouts, the cool air will provide for scattered showers, which may include a special kind of small hail known by meteorologists as graupel.









 

A waterspout over Lake Erie Taken on Aug. 12, 2011 courtesy Flickr User kuddlyteddybear2004