Florida Keys Waterspouts - September 11, 2006 by Martin Kucera

MULTIPLE FUNNEL CLOUD EVENT
September 11th, 2006 - Islamorada, FL
BY MARTIN KUCERA
(c) 2006 - FloridaLightning.com

The waterspout action has been really slow this summer. We only have two
weeks left in September. October is quite a nice month for wild weather and
then we already will be shifting to winter months and different weather
patterns. Honestly, I do not mind. I love the change and winter is a time to
study and recollect the previous season. Winter also brings plenty of
opportunities for weather photography. Supercells and severe storms are
actually more common down here in winter. Severe squall lines and cold front
passages occur just about every week, bringing interesting opportunities to
chase. Since we are not there yet, let me talk a bit more about the funnel clouds.
On this day, it just felt right again and it paid off to be up early in the morning.
At one time, waterspouts were just everywhere you looked. Non of the funnels
made it to become a full waterspout as far as I could observe.

A first glimpse of a nice looking funnel cloud. It looks small and far away in the first photo
but the funnel was only about half a mile from the shore. It looked promising at first.

Another two funnels form only minutes later. The first funnel is still alive and well. It actually
lasted for more than fifteen minutes. These other funnels were pretty much short lived.

A long, suspiciously contorted looking funnel just south of Islamorada, FL. The contrast
was so poor I can not confirm whether this one became a full waterspout but the length of
the funnel would have me saying so. There were other funnels way out on the ocean but I
shot no stills due to poor contrast. Video footage confirms additional two funnel clouds
and possibly one short lived waterspout that formed quickly on the leading edge of a
heavy shower and dissipated just as quickly.