BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A Rockledge woman celebrating her wedding anniversary managed to capture what she says was a perfect storm of a golden Florida sunrise, the glistening ocean and an impressive waterspout whirling out to sea.
"It was really cool and it was in the perfect spot," said Charlene Melcher, of Viera. Melcher was staying at the DoubleTree Oceanfront Hotel in Melbourne Beach with her husband, RobMelcher as part of the couple's celebration of their 27th wedding anniversary. She quickly posted the photo – with the watery vortex front and center of a glowing coastal sunrise - on Twitter.
Local 6 News partner Florida Today said the waterspout was one of several spotted Sunday over a 90-minute window just off of Brevard's central shoreline. Matt Bragaw, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said that a weather spotter who was boating in the Indian River near the Pineda Causeway also witnessed at least three waterspouts form offshore between the Patrick Air Force Base and Cocoa Beach areas. Waterspouts are rotating columns of water that form over seas and rivers. They are a frequent sight in Florida.
"There was a little land breeze that developed and pushed offshore in the predawn hours," said Bragaw. "This morning across central Florida the winds were very, very light. So you had very light wind conditions, land breezes and just enough moisture to have all of it converge and form a couple of waterspouts," he said, adding that there were no reports of damages or of the waterspouts making it to shore.
Melcher said she woke up to watch the sunrise and noticed the conditions out on the ocean immediately. It was about 6:30 a.m.
"It was looking like it was going to rain," she told Local 6 News partner Florida Today. "Then all of a sudden, just as the sun was peeking through the clouds, there was the waterspout."