How many have seen one? I bet they are fairly common: a vortex of wind hits the water and there you go. Been on maybe several dozen canoe trips in Mn/Ontario and have seen one (swirling across a wide stretch on the Albany River). Near a college town, I have the advantage of catching seminars, and I went to one, a while ago, that had film footage from Mars. It showed dust devils whirling across a flat plain. Hair on the back of my neck stood up.

Only once and it was twin spouts. About 15 feet high and 20 feet apart. They hit shore next to our camp on Malberg along with the 65 mph straight line winds that created them.

I was fishing on Gull Lake near Brainerd about 12 years ago with a buddy when it started to get dark and lightening on the west side of the lake. I gunned it and we raced to the access where we had launched. We could see a wall of rain and a waterspout heading right towards us. I beached the boat and we ran up to the newly constructed brick bathrooms at the access. We got covered with wet blowing sand as we ran to the outhouse and the wind was howling. It was over as soon as it started and the sun was back out. We went down to the boat to see what had been damaged. My boat was OK as I had run it nose-first onto the beach, but there were several other boats that were left side-wise to the beach and some of them were flipped over and others were pushed high and dry several feet up on the beach. There were enough people there to help everyone else get their boats back in the water. There were a couple of trees that had been knocked over and branches all over the parking lot.
I remember thinking, "I can't imagine being in the BWCA in a canoe and having this happen."

I've seen "dust-devils" over lakes, but no true waterspouts that extend up to the clouds. I did see a tornado over Many Point Lake in NW Minnesota back in 1972 when I was attending the Boy Scout camp there. Scary storm, but very different than a waterspout.

I have never seen any waterspouts in the BWCA, though I did see a small tornado on American Point off Basswood a few years back.

A neighbor took this picture of a waterspout over the Albemarle Sound a few years back. It lifted just before hitting land.

quote arctic: "I've seen "dust-devils" over lakes, but no true waterspouts that extend up to the clouds. I did see a tornado over Many Point Lake in NW Minnesota back in 1972 when I was attending the Boy Scout camp there. Scary storm, but very different than a waterspout."

Arctic is correct in that a "dust devil" over water is very different then a "tornado" over water. A tornado is called a aggressive funnel cloud becasue it extends from the ground into the clouds. Most of what we see in Canoe COuntry is glorified dust devils working off the difference in heat (convective) of the land and the water. Mix in the perfect LIGHT wind combining the two (lower winds near water and warmer winds from the forest and you get a whirlwind. They are most common in my experience on warm day with little wind. WAterspouts in MN are VERY rare.

Saw a 'snow' dust devil on the ice on Burke Lake one April.
Saw another great snow dust devil while skiing at Steamboat Springs. Nice sunny day and the ski lift stopped for a minute and just then a 30 foot high dust devil whipped up and hovered over the chair in front of us... Everyone on the lift was enjoying the sunshine but the three people on that chair were getting blasted by wind-driven snow :)

quote WhiteWolf: "

quote arctic: "I've seen "dust-devils" over lakes, but no true waterspouts that extend up to the clouds. I did see a tornado over Many Point Lake in NW Minnesota back in 1972 when I was attending the Boy Scout camp there. Scary storm, but very different than a waterspout."

Arctic is correct in that a "dust devil" over water is very different then a "tornado" over water. A tornado is called a aggressive funnel cloud becasue it extends from the ground into the clouds. Most of what we see in Canoe COuntry is glorified dust devils working off the difference in heat (convective) of the land and the water. WAterspouts in MN are VERY rare.
"

Yep, the waterspout we saw go across the Albany River was no where near up to the clouds. Thinking less than 100 feet high, but still impressive.

OK, my lightbulb must be one of those fluorescents: slow to light up.
I should not be using the word waterspout, as that is for a tornadic water feature. How's about "water devil" ?

Saw a "water devil" once in the far west end of Brule, near the Wench Lake portage. Very strange. It hissed very loudly. Fairly calm clear day too. It was maybe 20-30 feet tall.

Tomster

quote quark2222: "Saw a "water devil" once in the far west end of Brule, near the Wench Lake portage. Very strange. It hissed very loudly. Fairly calm clear day too. It was maybe 20-30 feet tall.


Tomster"

My dad (izzy) and I went right through a water devil on Alpine many years ago on a clear blue sky day. We thought we were going in, but didnt - it just spun as around a bit.