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OBX2Kayak
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WW -- The conditions you describe -- crystal clear, light winds, mid-afternoon -- match the environment when I've seen them. The biggest one I ever saw was about 70 feet tall and pencil thin. Quite an experience.
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maxxbhp
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We were paddling one day and in the middle of the lake suddenly it looked like a tornado. I know it wasn't, probably something like what we call a dust devil, but it was about 100 feet tall and the wind was pretty fast. We were probably 300 yards away. It would turn white, I guess when it got full of water, and start to make snapping sounds, like electricity arcing. Then, I guess it would throw the water out and seem to disappear, then in a second it was white again. It didn't last but about 30 seconds. After it stopped, we got into about a hundred little 8" waves, and it was easy to tell they were basically big ripples moving radially from a central source. When you get a minute, I'd be curious about what this was.
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OBX2Kayak
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quote kanoes: "waterspout."
That's what I call 'em, but it is a very interesting phenomena to witness.
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Dbldppr1250
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I saw a spout off the coast of Florida one day that hovered for a few hours and was on the national news the next morning. There were fishing boats around it that didn't seem to be running away.
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maxxbhp
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quote nofish: "quote maxxbhp: "I'd be curious about what this was. "
Hope it wasn't a sharknado.
 "
Hahahahahaha, I saw that last night, excellence in cinema
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bloody stump
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The ones i have seen would dicipate quickly once they reached land....They moved very quickly over the water, but once they hit land (they did make the trees sway pretty good when they hit land) they were over with. This goes right along with WW theory of air temp differentials and ideal conditions. All seen on smaller bodies of water (or bays of bigger lakes). I think all the ones we have seen were in May.
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kanoes
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waterspout.
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Dbldppr1250
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I also saw a spout on Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. It ran across the lake and hit the beach, turning over Henry's Resort boat dock. The entire dock flipped over, some boats ripped off, some went with it. I was standing in my parents' split-level watching. It all happened in about 3 or 4 seconds it seemed.
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Arkansas Man
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It is not fun to look to your right as you are paddling and see one headed straight toward you about 100 yards away! When it hit us it blew the SR Quetico 18.5 about 20 feet sideways! I told the wife to just stop paddling and hang on to the gunnels! It was a wild ride for a couple of seconds. Wind ended up blowing us about 1/4 mile below our intended landing spot. They are neat to see, but not fun to be in one!
Bruce
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nofish
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quote maxxbhp: "I'd be curious about what this was. "
Hope it wasn't a sharknado.
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WhiteWolf
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I have seen the same thing on a smaller scale about 3-4 times -- all in the BW,, all on rather small bodies of water and during the peak heating of the afternoon. Technically-- a waterspout is too be connected to a parent cloud (Cumulonimbus or wall cloud) -- call it what you want but dust devil (water devil??) makes the most sense. (Unless it was connected to a cloud,, then waterspout would be correct) Their is a technical term for it ,, but it slips my mind right now.
The conditions when I saw the ones I did was bluebird clear sky,, light winds in the middle of the afternoon. The theory (my guess) is PERFECT conditions caused by uneven heating of the water vs. the land causes hot to air to rise and then it meets the cooler air over the water and an IDEAL wind causes it to turn-- like eddies in a river,, then it becomes visible with water droplets and increases in size/speed for a brief time before the heat difference corrects itself and it dissipates.
The arcing you speak of is interesting. I have no clue.
video of one,, much larger then any I have seen
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OldFingers57
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I've seen a lot of dust devils over the year around here in the Midwest but never though it could occur over water like that.
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WhiteWolf
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quote bloody stump: "The ones i have seen would dicipate quickly once they reached land....They moved very quickly over the water, but once they hit land (they did make the trees sway pretty good when they hit land) they were over with. This goes right along with WW theory of air temp differentials and ideal conditions. All seen on smaller bodies of water (or bays of bigger lakes). I think all the ones we have seen were in May. "
bumped this up from a recent question on the Q forum.
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