NATURALIST'S 



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increase Safety 



Itwasadoudy . 

 summer day oh the 



Morehead City Waterfront when the crew of 

 Atlantis IV heard a booming sound not more than 

 50 feet from their vessel. 



The crew had docked at the Olympus 

 Dive Center to refill its scuba air tanks when a 

 waterspout appeared. The sea-spun funnel had 

 formed quickly in the adjacent channel and began 

 to chum on the surface. 



'You could see the 

 tail coming out of the 

 cloud, and it stopped 

 traffic on the bridge — those people had a really 

 good view," Renate Eichinger, first mate on the 

 Atlantis IV recalls. "I could see the swirl on the water, 

 and I kept my eyes on it. Luckily it wasn't coming 

 straight at us, but still, itf* s not somewhere you want 

 to be." 



The spout spun across the docks and onto 

 the roof of the building that was once Ottis' Fish 

 Market. Over land, the spout-tumed-tomado 

 grabbed loose shingles and tossed them through 

 the air, before whirling ofFinto the distance and 

 dissipating. 



"It didn't seem enormous, but it was strong 

 enough to throw things around," says Eichinger, 

 who had helped undock the boat and back it out 

 of the spout's damaging path. 



Atlantis Charters runs 90 to 1 00 diving 

 and fishing trips annually, and the crew spots 

 waterspouts on roughly five of those trips. While 

 Eichinger has no qualms about going out to sea 

 everyday, and even enjoys watching the spouts 

 dance beneath the distant cloud line, she's no 

 storm chaser. 



'You don't want to mess around with them. 

 The/ re beautiful, but from a distance," Eichinger 

 warns. 



REPORTING SPOUTS 



Boaters, who are most likely to spot 

 waterspouts, may not think to report their sightings 

 to forecasters: "It's just part of the day, like getting 

 in a traffic jam on the way to work — we'll hit 

 rough waters and not think much about it," says 

 Eichinger. 



But tales of these "traffic jams" are just 

 what Tim Armstrong, forecaster with the National 

 Weather Service (NWS) office in Wilmington and 

 local waterspout expert, wants to hear. Stories like 



Eichinger's, if reported, can improve the accuracy 

 of waterspout risk forecasts, a new service provided 

 by the NWS in Wilmington. 



The Wilmington forecast office oversees five 

 coastal counties, from Surf City in North Carolina 

 to the South Santee River in South Carolina, and 

 monitors marine weather up to 40 miles seaward. 



"We're trying to forecast fair weather 

 waterspouts, usually the kind we see over water off 

 the Carolinas," says Armstrong. 



A second type of waterspout, or tornado 

 over water, is less common. Spawned by massive 

 thunderstorms, "tornadic-type" waterspouts 

 are more easily detected by radar, with warnings 

 broadcast in advance. 



The waterspout risk forecasts first became 

 operational last summer as part of the Surf Zone 

 Forecast. Accessible on the Web, the forecast 

 provides information about coastal hazards, 

 such as lightning and rip currents, as well as daily 

 weather and surf conditions. 



Wilmington's online SurfZone Forecast 

 is enhanced by graphics that display vanous 

 hazards, including a color-coded map detailing 

 waterspout risk levels — none, low, moderate and 

 high. Mariners and beachgoers can check the 

 waterspout risk forecast, which is issued twice daily 

 dunng spnng and summer months, the peak times 

 for waterspouts. 



"Last year was our first run with the 

 waterspout forecast. We'll look things over and see 

 how we can make it better," says Tom Matheson, 

 warning coordination meteorologist with the NWS 

 in Wilmington. "It's a good estimate, at this point, 

 based on science." 



The forecast is modeled after a five-year 

 effort in the Florida Keys. The world's capital 

 for waterspouts, the Keys experience up to 500 

 waterspouts each year due to warm sea surfaces 

 surrounding the heated islands. 



Although waterspouts along North 

 Carolina are not as frequent as in the Keys, they 

 are dangerous and sometimes even tomadic, 

 according tojoseph Golden, senior meteorologist 

 and waterspout expert with the National Oceanic 

 and Atmosphenc Administration (NOAA). 



"The primary warm axis of the Gulf Stream 

 and large coastal bays and inland waterways are 

 favored regions of waterspout occurrence," Golden 

 explains in the Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences 

 chapter dedicated to waterspouts. 



Currently offered nowhere else along 

 the North Carolina coast, the waterspout 

 forecast draws interest from other NWS 

 offices. In Morehead City, Thomas Kreihn, 

 NWS meteorologist-in-charge, is following the 

 Wilmington prototype to see how it functions this 

 year. 



SPREADING THE WORD 



As waterspouts form and fade in the Atlantic 

 — each a slender, spinning column anchored only 

 by limits of cloud and sea — they are difficult, if not 

 impossible, to predict. 



Less-established weather systems rarely 

 show up on radar. "Weaker, smaller waterspouts 

 are pretty much undetectable," saysjeff Orrock, 

 warning coordination meteorologist with the 

 NWS in Raleigh, who formerly worked with the 

 Morehead City office. Therefore, forecasters often 

 must rely on boaters' reports to spread warnings. 



Waterspouts are visible, often from miles 

 away, and last for only minutes. "Most of the time 

 you see them before a warning comes out," says 

 George Purifoy, owner of Olympus Dive Center. 



Punfoy has seen up to five or six in clusters on 

 diving or fishing trips and has learned to "just steer 

 away from" threatening spouts. "Usually we're the 

 ones that call in the warning," he explains. 



The NWS in Wilmington issues a special 

 waterspout forecast over NOAA Weather Radio 

 on high-risk days. For maximum safety, all vessels 

 should be equipped with VHF manne band radios 

 that receive warnings from frequencies within the 

 weather band or rebroadcasts of warnings from 

 the U.S. Coast Guard. 



Open communication is a boater's best 

 protection against fair weather waterspouts, 

 according to Jim Bahen, former North Carolina 

 Sea Grant fisheries specialist who now works as a 

 recreational fishing guide. 



"We're all the time, constantly, talking on the 

 radio. Everyone's always looking out for the other 

 person — that's what you have to do out there," he 

 says of boaters. 



Although they generally can't identify 

 waterspouts as they occur, the forecasts do 

 help people better plan a day on the coast, and 

 safeguard life and property when nsks are high. 

 But, according to Armstrong, the forecast can't 

 work to its full potential without input from those 

 it serves. Continued 



COASTWATCH 



