AsiaOne readers, awed by this phenomenon, snapped these photos from their offices. The Meteorological Services said in waters off Singapore, an average of one or two sightings of waterspout are seen a year.

By Janice Wong
May 25, 2007
AsiaOne

A waterspout was sighted in the waters off Marine Parade today from 2.20 to 3 pm today and could be seen from as far away as the highrise offices in the central business area.

AsiaOne reader Jagan thought it was a tornado. The IT business development manager spotted the “tornado” from his office at Suntec City Tower One and quickly snapped it with his digital camera.

He said the weather was cloudy but not rainy then and the phenomenon lasted for two to three minutes and vanished as suddenly as it appeared.

“I was a bit scared, especially after the tsunami disaster two years ago, and hope the authorities will let us know quickly what it is,” he told AsiaOne.

Mr Cliff Tan, 30, who works in the finance industry also caught sight of the funnel-shaped spout from his workplace at Temasek Tower.

He said that as he looked out of his office window, he was surprised at what he saw. He then grabbed his camera and shot more than 30 pictures of the spiral which he immediately sent to AsiaOne.

Ven Sreenivasan, a senior correspondent of The Business Times, was near the Suntec area when he caught sight of what he thought was a cyclone at around 3pm and snapped it with his mobile phone.

The Meteorological Services, in a statement, said it was a waterspout.

One or two such sightings take place in an average year, it said, pointing out that last waterspout was seen last August.

Waterspout is a small weather phenomenon usually observed under cumuliform clouds during intense weather conditions associated with thunderstorms. Due to the lower pressure conditions under the clouds in such conditions, one or maybe two columns of water can be sucked towards the base of the clouds giving the traditional picture of a funnel, and as such waterspouts are sometimes also called funnel clouds.

In waters off Singapore, waterspouts have short life cycle of few to tens of minutes. Speed of movement of the waterspout over water ranges from a few to up to 15 knots.

Waterspouts are known to dissipate rapidly near the coast and are not expected to cause other danger to lives and property on land besides the usual dangers associated with thunderstorms. Waterspouts usually occur in water in the tropics, said the Meterological Service.

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