After weeks of intense heatwaves and high sea temperatures, a freak storm off the coast of Sicily sunk a British-flagged yacht named the Bayesian early on Monday 19 August, tragically killing seven people.
The storm is believed to have spawned a “tornadic waterspout” that struck and capsized the vessel. What are these? Astrid Werkmeister, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Strathclyde who uses satellites to track weather from space, explains.
What actually is a waterspout?
A waterspout is a column of rotating air that forms over a body of water, typically extending from a cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud down to the water’s surface. It closely resembles a tornado, but occurs over water rather than land.
Waterspouts are most common in the...
