Fair-weather waterspouts generally have winds less than 70 mph. Tornadic waterspouts tend to be stronger, through winds still do not usualle exceed 110 mph, though they can become much stronger.
Fair weather waterspouts can connect to either as long as they have a strong updraft. Tornadic waterspouts connect to a cumulonimbus.
"Water tornadoes," which are called waterspouts, are divided into two categories. Fair-weather waterspouts, are structured differently and generally weaker than classic tornadoes. Tornadic waterspouts are ordinary tornadoes that happen to be on water, they are just as strong as ordinary tornadoes.
Waterspouts typically last about 10 minutes.
Waterspouts are often thought to be less "deadly" than tornadoes because there is not really any property for them to pick up/destroy: They generally are not carrying gigantic amounts of debris to cause destruction, and hardly any human lives are at risk. However, they ARE tornadoes - just on water- They have "deadly" winds (think about how heavy all that water is). While fair-weather waterspouts rarely produce winds over 70 mph, tornadic waterspouts can be just as strong as any tornado.
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Tornadoes are generally more dangerous as they are stronger than waterspouts.
Yes, waterspouts can capsize boats. They can also move onto land to become full-fledged tornadoes.
Waterspouts can be found anywhere, its like a dust devil in water, except water, not dust.
Waterspouts can form on small lakes, not just oceans.
No. Waterspouts, despite their name, do not move sigificant quantities of water. They will create a spray, but nothing more than that. The vast majority of waterspouts never threaten land.
There are two types of waterspout: tornadic waterspouts and "fair weather" waterspouts. Tornadic waterspouts are normal tornadoes that form from supercells that happen to be on water. However, most waterspouts are of the "fair weather" variety. These waterspouts are weaker than supercell tornadoes and they typically are associated with developing storms while normal tornadoes are produced by very strong mature thunderstorms. Their formation is more like that of dust devils. They form when a line of developing storms or even cumulus clouds with strong convection move into an environment where the water is warmer than the air. The air just above the surface will be warm and naturally tend to rise. If there is weak rotation near the surface it can be taken up into this updraft and intensify. As this happens the ground level updraft becomes one with the higher-level updraft from the developing storm or cloud and the two joined updrafts enhance one another..
No.