Wild Waterspout Display on the Lost Coast This Morning

This morning, residents of Shelter Cove were treated to an awe-inspiring display of nature’s might as a waterspout formed off the coast roughly around 8 a.m. This event comes almost exactly a year after a similar phenomenon was reported in the same area on February 27, 2023.

Waterspouts, Matthew Kidwell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Eureka, explained to us last year, are akin to tornadoes that occur over water. Once the spiraling columns of air and water move onto the land, they are considered a tornado, Kidwell said.

Although witnessing a waterspout is relatively uncommon, the conditions that foster their formation are well understood by meteorologists. “Anytime we get these cold systems they are probably out there,” Kidwell noted, suggesting that the cold air masses, often moving over relatively warmer waters, create the  breeding ground for waterspouts.

This morning’s waterspout and the one last year makes this reporter glad that cameras are so prevalent now and photos allow so many of us to enjoy what we may never see in person.