Waterspout off Anglesey
Yesterday conditions were perfect for a few waterspouts to form around the coast of Wales.
One was filmed by a 203 Squadron Sea King, based at RAF Valley as it carried out a training exercise off South Stack lighthouse on the island of Anglesey.
The crew had spotted another waterspout 40 minutes earlier off the Skerries just north of Anglesey but were amazed to see another forming right before their eyes.
Flt Lt Mike Castle saw the water spout forming about 4 miles directly in front of the aircraft.
Mike turned the on board camera towards the water spout to record these remarkable pictures.
Mike commented: "In 12 years of being at RAF Valley I've only ever seen four of these and two of those were today."
Waterspouts are fairly common and occur when a tornado forms over oceans, lakes, or rivers. Apparently, there are two types of waterspout.
Waterspouts can vary in size from a few feet to more than a mile in height, and from a few feet to hundreds of feet wide.
Witnesses say they make hissing and sucking noises as they move and these water twisters can move at speeds ranging from 2 to 80 miles an hour!
Winds within the waterspout can spiral around at 60-120 miles an hour and usually last up to fifteen minutes with some lasting for more than half an hour.
Waterspouts are often seen in groups and ships out on the ocean have reported as many as 30 in one day.
Waterspouts, like tornadoes on the land, can suck up and transport some interesting objects. Other than rain itself, fish are the most common thing reported falling from the sky, but rains of frogs, tomatoes and even lumps of coal have been known to fall too.
Waterspouts are most frequent from May to September over warmer waters.They are usually not as dangerous as tornadoes, but can still cause serious damage to ships.
Other examples of waterspouts around the Welsh coast:
Â鶹Éç Local Mid Wales
A water spout off Barry Island on
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