VO5
New member
Can waterspouts form at night ?
Meteorological question...
- Thread starter VO5
- Start date
ghostlymoron
Well-known member
Unlikely as they need solar power to provide enough energy.
philip_stevens
Active member
VO5
New member
Thank you Philip.
I have suspected it for some time but have never been able to access concrete evidence so far.
I had an experience 80 miles north of Bermuda in very early June.
I was sailing eastbound on stbd tack in steady SW wind F4 from 1900 to 0200....but I felt very uncomfortable because the temperature of the wind fluctuated from cool to warm in alternating periods lasting only a few seconds each time. The barometer was very steady.
But I didn't like this, call it instinct if you like.
I decided to shorten sail drastically immediately, to the surprise of my crew.
We went from full sail to three reefs in the main and to a rolled up one third Genoa.
It was a night with no moon, pitch black.
Suddenly, at around 0220, black scudding very low cloud appeared overhead and the wind shifted to NW F6 then to 7.
Then it began to gust 8 and the rain suddenly came down in buckets.
The sea was flattish but the wind began to hit 9 in gusts. We were cracking along fast...and now the wind direction became erratic, veering then backing very quickly in succession. We hit what seemed to be a wall of rain driven horizontally followed by a clear and then the same again. I had to gybe her 4 times (under control) until finally the wild wind shifts had settled as fast as they had appeared. The wind settled on W and dropped to a 6 then a 5 then a 4 and remained steady in that direction till daybreak.
At sunrise I noticed what had happened to the ensign.
The ensign had wrapped itself tight around the staff in a total of 8 turns in an anticlockwise direction.
I suspect having been through an incomplete waterspout.
I have suspected it for some time but have never been able to access concrete evidence so far.
I had an experience 80 miles north of Bermuda in very early June.
I was sailing eastbound on stbd tack in steady SW wind F4 from 1900 to 0200....but I felt very uncomfortable because the temperature of the wind fluctuated from cool to warm in alternating periods lasting only a few seconds each time. The barometer was very steady.
But I didn't like this, call it instinct if you like.
I decided to shorten sail drastically immediately, to the surprise of my crew.
We went from full sail to three reefs in the main and to a rolled up one third Genoa.
It was a night with no moon, pitch black.
Suddenly, at around 0220, black scudding very low cloud appeared overhead and the wind shifted to NW F6 then to 7.
Then it began to gust 8 and the rain suddenly came down in buckets.
The sea was flattish but the wind began to hit 9 in gusts. We were cracking along fast...and now the wind direction became erratic, veering then backing very quickly in succession. We hit what seemed to be a wall of rain driven horizontally followed by a clear and then the same again. I had to gybe her 4 times (under control) until finally the wild wind shifts had settled as fast as they had appeared. The wind settled on W and dropped to a 6 then a 5 then a 4 and remained steady in that direction till daybreak.
At sunrise I noticed what had happened to the ensign.
The ensign had wrapped itself tight around the staff in a total of 8 turns in an anticlockwise direction.
I suspect having been through an incomplete waterspout.
VO5
New member
I forgot to add:~
Or a very tight low, straight in one side and out the other.
I estimated the diameter to hve been about a mile.
Or a very tight low, straight in one side and out the other.
I estimated the diameter to hve been about a mile.
Last edited:
