Awesome Delaware Waterspout Or Is It?

UPDATE 4/28/2008: I've closed the book on this topic for now with today's Friday Featured Fotos video blog. Feel free to leave future comments on the Forums.

UPDATE: After speaking with several leading storm chasers, I no longer hold out much hope that this was a tornado or waterspout, though they couldn't specifically explain what it was either. I have spoken to Neil, who took the photo below (also featured on the WGMD site). Neil is a boat captain with many years under his belt, and this formation was new to him. He has seen many waterspouts but none like this. He says the object formed slowly from the top down and appeared to "hit" the water or suddenly start sucking it up. For this reason, I think it may have been the thunderstorm updraft or downdraft. I will explain more on this week's Friday Featured Fotos. Neil's photo, which is the best view of the event, is below.

UPDATE: Traci's pictures (featured at WGMD) are now available on the AccuWeather.com Photo Gallery. She says that the storm started first with an arcus cloud:

Then it was turned vertical to create what you see in the last frame.

Here is a radar animation of the event (I believe, based on Hunter saying the event occurred between 1:00 and 1:30, and Traci quoting 1:14 to 1:17 for her pictures). You can download a longer radar loop from AccuWeather.com RadarPlus below. I just talked to WGMD about the event, to give them some clues as to what it might have been and I have posted additional thoughts on the Forum thread, where 70% of those who voted believe that it was not a waterspout. I have emailed leading storm chasers to get their interpretations.

UPDATE: I just found new photos of this event, and I'm less sure than ever that this was a waterspout. A roll cloud is shown early in the system, then there is missing time between that cloud and what appears to be a bizarre vertical cloud, but doesn't look like any waterspout I have ever seen. Vote in a poll over on our Forums and leave your thoughts there.

UPDATE: I'm still waiting for confirmation of what time the storm occurred, but I have uploaded a radar reflectivity and velocity animation that you can download. As you can see, there were a number of small thunderstorms that passed over the area in question Sunday afternoon. None of the storms showed strong rotation, but waterspouts typically form without a serious circulation being present in the parent thunderstorm. Are we even sure this is a waterspout? The spout seems abnormally large and cloud-like.

YOUR THOUGHTS: Meteo Madness Man (Henry Margusity) believes it was a tornado over water from a parent supercell thunderstorm. John thinks that it might not be a waterspout at all, but rather some sort of vertical roll cloud (these and other bizarre vertical cloud formations do happen in storms). I try not to call "tornado" / "waterspout" from a still photo, but I did with a quick glance. The real question is whether the photographer saw it rotating. It appears to be rotating clockwise from the photo, but still photos are not a great way to detect rotation. There is an additional photo posted on the Watercooler Weather blog.

ORIGINAL BLOG 4/22/2008: I just wanted to pull this photo out of the AccuWeather.com Photo Gallery - an excellent pic of a waterspout offshore from Bethany Beach, Delaware [Google Map] on Sunday. DSGaccuwx98 (Hunter Outten) says that there was no damage because it never made it to land. Thanks, Hunter, for the excellent pic!

This waterspout went unreported on the NWS spotter reports and local TV stations/newspapers (according to Google News), so this is a great example of how you can make a difference in bringing your weather reports to the public.

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