Waterspouts!

Today, Jacqueline & I went to run errands. We left here about 11:30 and our first stop was the post office. As I was getting back in the car, I looked over the river to the north-east and exclaimed, "OMG a tornado!" (We now know that it's just a funnel cloud until it touches ground, then it becomes a tornado.) Jacqueline wasn't so sure what it was, but I had to drive closer to get a better look anyway! The one I saw first was the best on that had formed, from high in the clouds to below the tree line, but we didn't get any pics of that one.

From an old issue of St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, September 1878 (the best time of year for seeing them!)...

We did get some though!

I was worried this would be the only one we got! (I had to circle the funnel so you could see it.)

Here's another one right in the middle behind the horse drawn carriage...

Kites and a funnel cloud! Yeah, no one thought much about them...

This one is heading around a curve...

And this is the start of a water spout!  Right in the middle, look under the funnel cloud, see the water?

There it goes!  A bunch of people with better cameras came running past us at this point; hopefully they get better pics!

Here's one right in front of us as we headed back to the car...

See it curving down?  And those fishermen in boats never even stopped fishing!

Then we headed to the store, where the power went out for about 30 seconds - SCARY DARK! When we finished and headed home, we noticed not everyone was so lucky with the power, as it was out for several blocks closer to the river, and when we got home, this is what we found:

AT 1214 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ALL ALONG THE
LAKESHORE FROM ROCHESTER TO MEXICO BAY. THIS ACTIVITY WAS MOVING
LITTLE AND WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH AT LEAST 2 PM. CONDITIONS
ARE CONDUCIVE FOR WATERSPOUT DEVELOPMENT WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE
WARNING. SEEK SAFE HARBOR IF A WATERSPOUT IS SPOTTED.

How cool is that?! It was quite an adventure for us! ^_^