WATERSPOUTS: The Great Lakes were recently the site of a world record waterspout outbreak.

A waterspout is a whirling column of air and mist over a body of water.

The International Centre for Waterspout Research, based in Canada, is an “independent non-governmental organization comprised of individuals from around the world who are interested in the field of waterspouts from a research, operational and safety perspective.”

They posted some information, and some interesting photos, on the group’s Facebook page.

“The highest number of waterspouts / funnels ever recorded took place recently over the Great Lakes during a 7-day period from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4,” the page noted.

“We have confirmed an unbelievable 232 waterspouts / funnels during this period. This breaks the old record of 88 spouts that took place from Aug. 16-18, 2020. The events from this recent outbreak were reported over every Great Lake, with the majority occurring over Lake Erie.”

They listed several reasons why so many spouts formed, the first of which was cold air.

“A continual flow of arctic air over the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes (meteorologists call this, ‘A pipeline to the Arctic’) causing instability and ideal conditions for waterspouts.”

The second was that a lot of people were looking for them.

“Coordination with storm chasers and the media who reported sightings on social media,” was the reason listed. And third, mapping: “Availability of our waterspout forecast maps to give advance notice and focus in on probable waterspout hot spots.”

The group noted during the height of the event, a one-day record of 82 waterspouts were spotted on Oct. 1.

Observer David Piano noted 38 spouts that he had seen in one day.

Another highlight was a “family of 4 waterspouts occurring at the same time,” and the last was that some of the spouts moved onshore, but luckily caused no damage.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water, while fair weather waterspouts usually form along the dark flat base of a line of developing cumulus clouds. This type of waterspout is generally not associated with thunderstorms.

While tornadic waterspouts develop downward in a thunderstorm, a fair weather waterspout develops on the surface of the water and works its way upward. By the time the funnel is visible, a fair weather waterspout is near maturity. Fair weather waterspouts form in light wind conditions so they normally move very little.