waterspout

A rare Lake Superior weather phenomenon was spotted just off the Minnesota North Shore of Lake Superior on Tuesday night.

While there was no severe weather associated with Thursday's rain system, a visual often associated with severe weather was spotted on a Northern Minnesota lake.

Waterspouts are generally a warm-season phenomenon, appearing over large bodies of water like Lake Superior. Saturday afternoon (December 7), multiple cold air waterspouts were spotted near Knife River, north of Duluth on the Minnesota North Shore.

The waterspout that captured the attention of the Twin Ports on Thursday, August 9 proved to be a historic event for both Duluth and Superior.

People in the Twin Ports see a lot of crazy weather conditions through the seasons. Usually waterspouts aren't one of those things. With today's occurrence of a waterspout near Park Point on Lake Superior, social media is abuzz with questions like "What is a waterspout?" or "Why do waterspouts occur?" Here's a quick guide into those questions and more.

At about 11 AM today, the National Weather Service reported a water spout 2 miles off park point.  A waterspout is a tornado that appears over water, and is generally not as strong as tornadoes over land.