Charleston (WLTX) -- A cell phone photo snapped by Charleston resident Grant Smith must have been taken under a little bit of stress Saturday afternoon.
While launching his boat at the landing in Charleston Harbor he spotted this waterspout at around 1:40 Saturday afternoon.
"We saw it and thought, 'Maybe this isn't a good idea.'"
According to the National Weather Service, and several dozen witness reports, the waterspout formed between Drum Island and Daniel Island on the Cooper River, north of Highway 17.
Smith, a realtor from Mt. Pleasant, says the waterspout lasted about five minutes. Other than some lightning, he says the weather was fine.
"Was I scared? Me? No!" he said lauging during a phone interview.
There are several kinds of waterspouts, this one is known as a fairweather waterspout, or a nontornadic waterspout. These are much weaker than tornadoes that form with supercell thunderstorms over land.
While there are no specific reports of the winds, typically these types of storms produce wind gusts less than 65 miles per hour.
There were no reports of damages or injuries from the waterspout, and it dissipated before moving on shore.
Apparently Smith wasn't scared. He says he waited about 15 minutes and launched the boat anyway.
Lewis Turner
News19 Weather
6/6/2009 10:52:37 PM
