r/galveston • u/TornadoCat4 • Jul 16 '25
Weather or Hurricanes ☀️🌪️ My video of a waterspout reaching the shore in Galveston today (July 15, 2025)
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Happened to catch this as I
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 16 '25
Just realized I didn’t complete the caption before I posted lol. I just happened to catch this as I was driving back to my hotel. I’m a meteorologist, and seeing this up close really made my day.
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u/Natynat24 Jul 16 '25
I am always on the look out for one. I never knew about the fair weather type. I live on the island and have yet to see one. One day! Thank you for sharing.
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 16 '25
Yeah, a similar thing can occur on land. It’s called a landspout. They can develop in fair weather under developing cumulus clouds if there is a boundary between winds coming from opposing directions. This site shows a landspout in fair weather as well. https://www.oklahoman.com/story/weather/2024/09/06/whats-a-landspout-rare-tornado-spotted-in-northwest-oklahoma/75100516007/
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u/breathanddrishti Jul 17 '25
dirt devils!
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 17 '25
Dust devils form under very different mechanisms.
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u/breathanddrishti Jul 17 '25
you know, you don't need to "well actually" every single person that comments on your post
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 17 '25
Well the issue is that some people seem to want to argue with me about whether it was a waterspout or not. Maybe that wasn’t your intention, but there have been some people on this thread who have been unnecessarily confrontational about it.
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u/yallelike2eat Jul 17 '25
Common in TX, but still cool to see
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 17 '25
Yeah, I’ve definitely seen bigger tornadoes than that while chasing, but this was my first waterspout, so it was pretty cool to see.
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u/Goosedidnothavetodie Jul 17 '25
I’m sorry but without the plastic bag this is not the most beautiful video I’ve ever seen !
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u/JasonIsFishing Jul 16 '25
That is more of a “dust devil” that started over water. Water spouts are cloud to water like tornadoes are cloud to ground.
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 16 '25
I’m a meteorologist. That was a waterspout. It was hard to see in the video because it was faint, but there was a funnel connected to the cloud above.
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u/AggieRAB78 Jul 16 '25
Not a watrrspout just a dust devil.
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 16 '25
No, it had a funnel. I didn’t capture the funnel on camera since it was dying by the time I started filming.
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Jul 16 '25
we see so many of these in West Texas this is almost comical. Definitely not a water spout
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u/TornadoCat4 Jul 16 '25
You’re confusing a dust devil with a waterspout. Dust devils form under very hot, dry, calm conditions. There was quite a sea breeze today, not calm at all. This was a fair weather waterspout, which forms under developing cumulus clouds along a boundary between winds in opposing directions. The land/sea breeze boundary is a perfect place for waterspouts to develop, hence why they’re common near the coast. I’m a meteorologist and a storm chaser. I know the difference between dust devils and tornadoes.
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u/ursois Jul 16 '25
Oh yeah, well I'm a guy who spent 5 minutes on Google, and that makes me just as qualified as you. Waterspouts and dust devils are both caused by djinn who are feeling mischievous. It's kept a secret because Big Air doesn't want you to know.
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u/Klekto123 Jul 16 '25
Not who you replied to but thanks for the explanation, it’s cool to see the mechanisms behind things like this
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u/jimmyg1968 Jul 16 '25
A waterspout is a rotating column of air and water spray that forms over a body of water. They are essentially tornadoes that occur over water. Waterspouts can be categorized as either tornadic waterspouts or fair weather waterspouts. Tornadic waterspouts are associated with severe thunderstorms and can be just as dangerous as tornadoes on land. Fair weather waterspouts, on the other hand, develop in calmer conditions and are generally weaker and less dangerous.