Wikipedia defines them as this "A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud) that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud. In the common form, it is a nonsupercell tornado over water, and brings the water upward. Also, it is weaker than most of its land counterparts.[1]" Basically, there are two kinds: tornadic and non-tornadic. Thankfully we have only had the latter one. To see just how devasting the tornadic ones can be, you should go over to Rosana's Blog for an account of what happened recently when one came ashore from Lake Chapala.
You will probably have to click on these pics to see the detail. This is what it looked like as it was forming.
Then it started to drop down.
These next two show it actually touching the water. I could see the water rising up into it from my front porch. Using the binoculars, it was spectacular. I was also amazed to see a small fishing boat about 100 yards away from it. I bet they were watching it too!
When we were tourists here in February 1998, there was a large water spout somewhere out to sea. It came ashore while we were running for cover. The wind and water it dumped in a matter of seconds was awesome. It felt like we had been caught in a tornado.
Unfortunately, that one claimed the lives of five local fishermen. Three of them were from the same family and their bodies were never found. That inspired the city to commission this statue, which was erected in 1999. I'm sure many of you who have visited here have seen it. It is located on the corner across the street from Jax. The next time you see it, think about the tragedy it commemorates.
3 comments:
Wow, Mother Natures power is truly awesome and at times scary isn't it.
That statue is the work of "Adrian" who is an island resident. The other statues which you see on the island downtown including the one of Benito Juarez are also his work. His brother is Miguel a long time island musician who often plays at Jax
el oso...I know Adrian very well. In fact I have several of his pieces in my home. I actually got to watch him work on the shark in that statue. Also, did you know that he designed the Isla logo of the seagull on the post? Another little known fact is that he did the Madonna on top of the church downtown. He had to do one of the cherubs over tho because the priest thought it was too sexy! His work is fantastic. Maybe I will do a blog of his works around the island. And hey, why not come out of hiding and identify yourself? You evidently live here.
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