Sunday was a fairly active weather day around West Michigan, in a manner that's more reminiscent of September or October than July. Waterspouts were reported along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Ottawa County, including one that briefly came onshore near Holland.
Here are some photos sent by Steve Geerlings of Holland:
Waterspout.bmp
Waterspout2.bmp
Waterspouts are much more common in the early fall, when water temperatures are still warm and cooler air starts to move in aloft. But because the weekend was so unseasonably cool, the line of showers that developed with an upper-level disturbance in the late morning had enough instability and rotation with them to generate the waterspouts.
While you don't want to go directly into a waterspout, they rarely cause any damage. That was the case with the 'spout in Holland, but they certainly cause a lot of excitement! Even my in-laws called from Maryland, having somehow heard about it.
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In other science news, the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century is about to take place on Wednesday (really late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning our time). However, unless you're willing to travel halfway around the world, you won't see it.
Fortunately for us, though, there will be live webcasts of the event. Here is the NASA link to all the information on the eclipse.
Have a good week! -JS
Here are some photos sent by Steve Geerlings of Holland:
Waterspout.bmp
Waterspout2.bmp
Waterspouts are much more common in the early fall, when water temperatures are still warm and cooler air starts to move in aloft. But because the weekend was so unseasonably cool, the line of showers that developed with an upper-level disturbance in the late morning had enough instability and rotation with them to generate the waterspouts.
While you don't want to go directly into a waterspout, they rarely cause any damage. That was the case with the 'spout in Holland, but they certainly cause a lot of excitement! Even my in-laws called from Maryland, having somehow heard about it.
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In other science news, the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century is about to take place on Wednesday (really late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning our time). However, unless you're willing to travel halfway around the world, you won't see it.
Fortunately for us, though, there will be live webcasts of the event. Here is the NASA link to all the information on the eclipse.
Have a good week! -JS
Sunday was a fairly active weather day around West Michigan, in a manner that's more reminiscent of September or October than July. Waterspouts were reported along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Ottawa County, including one that briefly came onshore near Holland.
Here are some photos sent by Steve Geerlings of Holland:
Waterspout.bmp
Waterspouts are much more common in the early fall, when water temperatures are still warm and cooler air starts to move in aloft. But because the weekend was so unseasonably cool, the line of showers that developed with an upper-level disturbance in the late morning had enough instability and rotation with them to generate the waterspouts.
While you don't want to go directly into a waterspout, they rarely cause any damage. That was the case with the 'spout in Holland, but they certainly cause a lot of excitement! Even my in-laws called from Maryland, having somehow heard about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other science news, the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century is about to take place on Wednesday (really late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning our time). However, unless you're willing to travel halfway around the world, you won't see it.
Fortunately for us, though, there will be live webcasts of the event. Here is the NASA link to all the information on the eclipse.
Have a good week! -JS
Here are some photos sent by Steve Geerlings of Holland:
Waterspout.bmp
Waterspouts are much more common in the early fall, when water temperatures are still warm and cooler air starts to move in aloft. But because the weekend was so unseasonably cool, the line of showers that developed with an upper-level disturbance in the late morning had enough instability and rotation with them to generate the waterspouts.
While you don't want to go directly into a waterspout, they rarely cause any damage. That was the case with the 'spout in Holland, but they certainly cause a lot of excitement! Even my in-laws called from Maryland, having somehow heard about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other science news, the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century is about to take place on Wednesday (really late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning our time). However, unless you're willing to travel halfway around the world, you won't see it.
Fortunately for us, though, there will be live webcasts of the event. Here is the NASA link to all the information on the eclipse.
Have a good week! -JS
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