Environment

Ship Captain Captures Five Stunning Waterspouts Over Lake Michigan

National Weather Service Records Nine Waterspouts over Lake Michigan Saturday, Five Caught on Video

(Image: Eric Treece via BBC)

Over the weekend, a freighter closer to the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan caught a rare sight of not one but five waterspouts above the lake. The National Weather Service recorded a total of nine waterspouts cropping up with winds around 45 miles per hour.

Freighter captain and storm chaser Eric Treece was able to film a dense grouping of the waterspouts. MLive.com has more from Treece on the water formations he saw Saturday and his experience with them over the years:

“Being out here, I get a really good view of thunderstorms over the lake,” said Treece, who operates ColoradoStormChaser.com.

“Once in a while we’ll get lucky and come across a waterspout outbreak.”

The conditions were right for the tornado-like formations on Saturday. Treece said they formed on the frontal boundary line as the freighter was passing by, about one to two miles off the port stern.

[...]

“This is the first time I’ve seen waterspouts like that since probably 1997,” he said, but “I know some guys on the boat who see them once or twice a year.”

Treece said the waterspouts lasted about 45 minutes. Watch this footage taken of them:

MLive reports this incident being the second time waterspouts have been spotted on the lake this summer. Meteorologist William Moreno told MLive the spouts are formed by cooler air on land coming together with warmer air over the lake.

Check out images from Treece on his Facebook page here. Treece also has a video on YouTube of the spouts here.

Comments (17)

  • wouldubelieveit
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:02pm

    Aliens Filling there tank with H 2 0 For the fight back home.

    Report Post »  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 1:14pm

    Waterspouts no big deal. Now if you’re talking wind, try Lake Superior:

    The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
    of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee.”
    The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
    when the skies of November turn gloomy.
    With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
    than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
    that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
    when the “Gales of November” came early.

    The ship was the pride of the American side
    coming back from some mill in Wisconsin.
    As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
    with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
    concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
    when they left fully loaded for Cleveland.
    And later that night when the ship’s bell rang,
    could it be the north wind they‘d been feelin’?

    The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
    and a wave broke over the railing.
    And ev’ry man knew, as the captain did too
    ’twas the witch of November come stealin’.
    The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
    when the Gales of November came slashin’.
    When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
    in the face of a hurricane west wind.

    Report Post »  
  • SquidVetOhio
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 12:47pm

    Dorothy: I don‘t think we’re in Kalamazoo any longer ToTo.

    ToTo: I miss the rains down in Africa.

    Report Post » SquidVetOhio  
  • AynRandsBiotch
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 11:05am

    Sailing the Chicago to Port Huron race 25–30 years ago we sailed between two of these guys. We were sailing an old twelve meter and had all sails down doing 8 knots or so running with the wind. No one hurt and nothing damaged, but what a great memory! I wonder why it takes the BBC to report something interesting in our own backyard?

    Report Post » AynRandsBiotch  
  • schroeder123
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:58am

    Hey Mr Gore… Suck up the water and send it to the drought stricken areas, You invented the web,
    I think you can do this too.

    Report Post » schroeder123  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:33am

    What did it do with them after it captured them?

    Report Post »  
  • rangerp
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:12am

    has to be an effect of Man Made Global Warming. Ask any liberal, and they will show you the facts.

    Send your money to Al Gore, vote for Obama, make gas prices higher, ride your bike, harness rainbow power, butterfly dust, and unicorn farts, and push for a one world government, were American gets put in her place, we redistribute all the wealth, and then we can an all be happy.

    Report Post » rangerp  
  • Government_Goodies
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 10:10am

    So my question has always been do these things suck fish up? You’re a fish reading the newspaper, sipping your coffee, then suddenly…SLLUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPP!!!???

    Or a lighting strike…POW….you’re fried?

    Report Post » Government_Goodies  
  • nobull14
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:42am

    I believe that’s very rare to happen on lake Michigan because of water temp.?

    Report Post »  
    • mr.goodvibe
      Posted on August 20, 2012 at 1:07pm

      Not that rare, we usually had on or two a year reported in northern lake michigan arount the escanaba, gladstone area. Have seen them myself while at the beach. We got wicked storms in the summer they were just never reported in the big media, just local radio.

      Report Post » mr.goodvibe  
  • purecolorartist
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:37am

    Wonder if a small boat has ever been sucked up into one of those? I guess I could Google it.

    Report Post » purecolorartist  
  • woodyee
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:27am

    …Global Warming Climate Change…

    and Rosie O’Donnell will make a good president…

    Report Post » woodyee  
  • teddrunk
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:25am

    Wow 40 to 60 mph. You gotta be kidding. just a few miles inland and we’re talking full blown tornadoes.

    Report Post »  
  • biohazard23
    Posted on August 20, 2012 at 9:23am

    “Ship Captain Captures Five Stunning Waterspouts Over Lake Michigan”

    Captured them? How? What did he do with them once captured, put them in a bottle? Are waterspouts caught like fireflies? Jeez…..

    Report Post » biohazard23  

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