Waterspout occurring offshore Batu Satu Miri at 11.05am yesterday.
MIRI: Several Mirians yesterday had the opportunity witnessing the occurrence of waterspout — a rare meteorological phenomenon offshore Miri near Batu Satu, Lutong at 11.05am.
Our reporter, Mohammad Abdullah Jamin was among those at the site who captured the phenomenon on their mobile phones.
According to Wikipedia, a waterspout is an intense columnar vortex (usually appearing as a funnel-shape cloud) that occurs over a body of water.
They are connected to a towering cumuliform cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. In the common form it is a non-supercell tornado over water.
While it is often weaker than most of its land counterparts, stronger versions spawned by mesocyclones do occur.
Most waterspouts do not suck up water, they are small and weak rotating columns of air over water.