Videos Show Why Waterspouts Aren't Always So Harmless

This house in Fort Walton Beach, Florida was trashed by Sunday's tornado.

Waterspouts - basically tornadoes over water, are usually pretty harmless. They're usually not that strong, and more often than not dissipate before coming on shore or just afterwards. The normally cause just minor damage.

A large proportion of waterspouts are regarded as "fair weather waterspouts" because they form beneath garden variety showers and thunderstorms.

You gotta watch these things, though, because sometimes there's more than just a minor waterspout going on.  You should avoid them at all costs because some waterspouts are actually full-fledged, dangerous tornadoes associated with violent thunderstorms.

This more menacing type of waterspout is no different - and just as dangerous - as a full-fledged land tornado.  They just happen to form over water. That happened Sunday in Fort Walton Beach, on the Florida panhandle coast. A waterspout formed in the Gulf of Mexico and came onshore.

The waterspout came ashore as an EF-1 tornado, with winds of between 86 and 110 mph. That's certainly not the strongest tornado possible, but that kind of twister is certainly capable of causing damage, as it did in Fort Walton Beach.

When a tornado hits a populated area, you're sure to get lots of video, and some striking ones came out of Fort Walton Beach.

Several homes and other buildings were damaged by this twister, one of about five that hit Alabama and Florida Sunday. Luckily there were no serious injuries.

 Here's a balcony view of the twister passing close by as it came ashore.



Here's another, close view of the tornado:


There's surveillance video of Fort Walton Beach City Hall. Damage looks minor, but even a relatively weak one like this can be scary. Note in one clip how the twister moves a pickup truck: