Rare Waterspout Forms On Flathead Lake, USA

It’s something you’d most likely see over a lake in the Midwest or Central Plains, but cameras captured a waterspout on Flathead Lake in western Montana on Monday.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term waterspout, just think of a tornado. It’s simply a tornado over a body of water.

Tornadoes are typically generated by severe thunderstorms, which contain large amounts of wind shear. As winds turn and change speed with height in the atmosphere, a tube of spinning air can develop, which can then form into a tornado if the right conditions are present.

However, waterspouts can form in areas where there are no thunderstorms, but the atmosphere is very unstable, meaning warm air sitting below a layer of cold air.

Temperature sensors sitting in Flathead Lake indicate water temperatures are near 48°. Upper air data indicates the air temperature at nearly 15,000 feet above the surface of that water is close to -29°. This represents a very unstable airmass, which means the water is helping to warm the air near the surface and that warm air is then rising through the atmosphere.